Toespraak generaal Middendorp ter gelegenheid van het 1GNC event

Toespraak | 14-05-2014

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to see all of you gathered here today.

Members from the private sector, non-profit organizations, diplomats, experts in development and military men.

Who would have thought this fifteen years ago? Fifteen years ago I worked for the German Netherlands Corps, which is organizing this event. Let me tell you, the exercises we carried out in those days were different to those of today. Back then, there was a purely military focus on high intensity operations and on fighting military enemies. The concept of a comprehensive approach still had to be invented. Our operational plans paid hardly any attention to interagency aspects. In our command posts, I never saw anyone from the non-profit sector, let alone businessmen, to talk about civil solutions for military threats.

The fact that we are gathered here today shows how the world has changed and that we have come a long way in understanding that we have many common interests and that we need to join efforts to secure those interests. We have learned to respect and consult with each other, despite our different backgrounds. Because all of us came to realize: there is more that unites us, than divides us. We are united by the realization that we all profit from safety and security, and that all of us play a role in improving safety and security. Now even more than ever. Because no longer do civil wars and humanitarian crises happen in other parts of the world. No, even at our European borders we witness crises and violent conflict. Some research shows that the world is less secure.

According to the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, last year saw some 400 conflicts worldwide, 20 of them wars. Like those in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali and the Central African Republic. The Institute’s findings show that the continent of Africa is a hotbed of conflict and strife. Ladies and Gentlemen, I do not want to paint a threatening picture. There have been conflicts across the globe for thousands of years. And the reasons for conflict are often the same: they are mostly due to the presence of valuable raw materials, unresponsive regimes, a sheer desire for power, extreme poverty, unemployment, and religious fanaticism.But what is different is that today we live in a globalised world. A world where threats are not bound by national borders, and where local conflicts have global effects.We need only think of the rapid developments during the so-called Arab Spring, the current situation in Ukraine, or the deteriorating situation in South Sudan.

These conflicts are a recipe for refugee flows, growing extremism, organized crime, violent extremism, human trafficking… Threats that directly affect our security and prosperity. Threats we cannot ignore. They are the reason why, as we speak, Dutch military personnel are deployed to no less than 17 overseas missions. My men and women fight terrorism, protect human rights and stabilize failed states, and thus try to remove the roots of insecurity. Roots that directly affect the security and welfare in our home countries. The usability of our Armed Forces has widened. We do more than intervene in conflicts. We also help prevent conflicts and stabilise situations after conflict, by providing security conditions and support for diplomatic and development efforts.

By doing so, we create the preconditions for others to work on sustainable development. We create the preconditions so that people like you can focus on diplomatic relations, address issues in support of the public good, and maintain trade and investment. When I think of sustainable development, I think of people like Jan Slange. He is the director of InterCommerce BV, a family-owned International Trading Company based in the northern part of the Netherlands. His company is represented here today and is specialised in the supply of trucks, trailers, heavy machinery, milk collection tanks, spare parts and much more. Jan Slange’s company operates throughout the world, including in the African nation of Burundi, where InterCommerce participates in a large joint venture for the production of concrete. For Jan Slange, Africa is – just as it is for many entrepreneurs – truly the next great frontier. A consumer market of almost one billion people, rich in resources, with a young workforce and steady economic growth. What else do you want? But establishing a presence in Africa is not without challenges. Jan Slange knows all about that.

Burundi is still struggling to emerge from a 12-year, ethnic-based civil war. And Burundi still faces significant challenges in establishing effective public institutions. For Jan Slange, this means a potential risk. After all, businesses and industries need a peaceful market to operate in and need to be assured of a steady supply chain. Therefore, international military efforts in Burundi, contributing to security sector reform, give him a feeling of safety. He says: “If it wasn’t for the armed forces, I probably could not do business in Burundi, because it would be too dangerous for my employees”.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that is one of the reasons for having armed forces. Together with international partners, we protect our security, safety and thus our prosperity. However, if we want lasting peace and security, we need the active consent, participation and ownership of national authorities, businessmen, NGOs, and local people. They should all provide part of the solution to the puzzle. The fact that all of you are gathered here today to discuss the private sector’s contribution to Defence, Diplomacy and Development shows that it is no longer the question whether we need a Comprehensive Approach, but rather how to further develop the content.

In order to further operationalise the Comprehensive Approach, I believe that we need to maintain this momentum and actively engage with each other. The role of the private sector is crucial in the process of stabilising fragile states. You, the private sector, can create jobs and you can support economic development, thereby providing new and sustainable perspectives to the local population. Or as Winston Churchill once said: “Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.” Take Philips, the Dutch technology company, for instance. Between May and August 2014, representatives from Philips will once again travel across Africa to show how lighting solutions, among other things, can improve the quality of life. A great initiative, from which Philips will surely profit, but more importantly, the company will also make a great contribution to development. If there is light, employees can work during the evening, and can avoid working during the hottest hours of the day.

Evening schools can flourish. Markets can stay open longer. The possibilities are plentiful! But it is not just Philips that can contribute to sustainable development. Smaller enterprises can, and indeed do, also contribute. Companies such as Rainbow Sustainable Solutions, a company that aims for sustainable economic growth through rural and agriculture development. Rainbow developed a sustainable fishing industry in Puntland, the northern province of Somalia. A well-known proverb states: give a man a fish and he eats for one day… teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. Well, at the moment, the construction of the shipyard in Bosaso, the main harbour of Puntland, has started, while ten Somalian technicians are currently being trained in a shipyard in Sri Lanka.

Rainbow’s director John Limmen, is present here today. He advises and helps Somalian fishermen and offers the Somali people alternatives for piracy. John, where are you? I have to say, John, it is a great initiative. It is more sustainable to invest in projects, and thus create jobs, than to just send money to families. And I have heard you are now working on a proposal to install water tanks and water pumps powered by solar energy in a city in Somalia. In this project, you are cooperating closely with local elders. After all, they are the ones who have to operate and maintain the water tanks after they are placed. I think it is a prime example of sustainable development.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that is why a comprehensive approach and collaboration with industry are key for security. In Africa and worldwide. We need each other. Only by working together are we able to look below the surface and address the roots of conflict.As a military organisation, we can go where others cannot. We can help create a safe and secure environment, we can build and strengthen local security structures, and we can protect civilians, thereby allowing others to step in and work on sustainable development. A 3D+E approach. A Comprehensive Approach plus the E of economy. That’s the way to move forward. Peace needs business, business needs peace!

And a first step towards supporting each other is by debating and sharing thoughts. I am therefore very pleased that my colleague Rob Swartbol is here to share his views on private sector involvement, since private sector development is an important theme for our minister of Development Cooperation. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to challenge all of you today to develop concrete ideas and share best practices that we can use in the near future, in order to achieve full involvement of the private sector in the Comprehensive Approach! Because we have come a long way, but we can go much further.

Let us act now, so that in fifteen years’ time we can say: who would have thought back then that we would take the path of the Comprehensive Approach together? That we would become sustainable development partners? And that we would look back on today as the start to making this world a better and safer place to live in! Because that is what it’s all about!

Thank you.