Toespraak van minister Ploumen at Fudan University, Shanghai, 28 October

Toespraak | 28-10-2014

Ladies and gentlemen,

'A single tree makes no forest, one string makes no music.' The meaning of this old Chinese proverb will not be lost on anyone. In today’s fast-globalising world, we increasingly realise that truly great things can only be achieved through teamwork. Working together opens up new opportunities.

This is a truth well-recognised by the Dutch. For us, working together is not simply an opportunity, it is a bare necessity. As you know, a large part of our country lies below sea level. For centuries, dikes have protected us from flooding. Dikes that people built together. And that have been maintained together. In the past, farmers who didn’t mend their dikes together would both drown.

My talk today is about the value of and the need for cooperation. It is a great honour to speak on this theme to such a distinguished audience. The dignitaries among you have led China into a new era, at a pace never before seen. And the many young people here – students at this prestigious university – are destined to shape your country’s future. As tomorrow’s scientists, judges, businesspeople and politicians.

No one knows exactly what the future holds. What we do know is that it will bring challenges as well as opportunities. The world population is expected to grow from seven billion today to nine billion in 2050. Demand for resources and food will outstrip supply. Water shortages are also likely. All this will increase global tensions. The climate, too, is changing. In a world full of uncertainty, the more friends one has the better. Because many of these challenges cannot be tackled at national level. They demand a global approach. Friends can learn from each other, and help each other. Simply put: together, we are stronger.

The truth of this statement was understood by General Sun Tzu many centuries ago. In his book The Art of War, the oldest known book on warfare and military strategy, Sun Tzu wrote about the soldiers of two warring feudal states, who had to cross a wide river during a heavy storm. Instead of fighting they shared a boat and survived the storm.

If enemies can work together, then surely friends can. Fortunately, China and the Netherlands have already found each other, and work together in many areas. We were honoured that President Xi Jinping selected our country for his first state visit, in March this year. The Netherlands is China’s second largest trading partner in the EU, and its third largest investor. Schiphol and Rotterdam are the gateway to Europe for Chinese goods. Some 450 Chinese companies have offices in the Netherlands. Besides trade and investment, our countries work together well in the fields of technology and science. Fudan University, for instance, has close ties with the University of Groningen.

There are many things the Netherlands can learn from China, and many things about China that I admire. Over the last thirty years, China’s economy has grown continuously. And this success has helped lift hundreds of million Chinese out of poverty in the span of a generation. Two-thirds of the reduction in global hunger has been in China. In next to no time, your country has become the world’s largest investor in both solar and wind power. And since last year, women hold 51 per cent of senior positions in Chinese companies. That’s the highest percentage anywhere in the world. I don’t mind admitting that I’m a bit jealous of these achievements.

At the same time, the Netherlands has a lot to offer China, too. The Chinese businesspeople I talked to yesterday said that some things continue to surprise them. Like the fact that a small country – a country that is almost as densely populated as parts of eastern China – exported in 2013 more than 2 billion euros’ worth of agricultural products to China. This makes the Netherlands the second biggest exporter of agricultural products to China. These figures testify to our expertise in agricultural reform, plant breeding and food safety. Expertise that the Netherlands is eager to share with China.

The same goes for our strategies to curb pollution and ecosystem degradation, and tackle the uncertainties of climate change. A month ago, a delegation from several cities in southern China visited the Netherlands to learn more about these technologies. They were impressed by the way we recover resources and energy from our urban waste streams. They were also interested in how we manage to limit the risk of flooding when two thirds of our country lies below sea level.

I believe the dialogue between China and the Netherlands is of great importance. And it is a dialogue I would like to intensify. Not only on matters that affect our two countries, but also on issues that concern the whole world. United, we can achieve great things. We both need more than one string to make music.

Today the future of international development is at a crossroads. The international community should take this historic opportunity to agree a compelling set of post-2015 development goals. For the first time the world has the opportunity and the means to eradicate poverty from the face of the Earth within one generation. This will only work if we have our instruments in tune and play together from the same sheet of music. In the UN all countries, including China and the Netherlands are working together to compose this piece of music. And the collaboration is excellent; I’ll give you an example: like China, the Netherlands supports the inclusion of a separate gender goal in the new set of development goals. We both hope this will help eradicate the worst cases of gender inequality, like child marriage and the impossibility for girls and women in certain countries to open bank accounts and own property.

The Open working group on Sustainable Development Goals has shown the world that it is possible to agree on what we want to achieve with international development: the proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). The Financing for Development Conference in Addis Abeba in July next year will show us that the world can also put together this debate in my view definitely has to progress go beyond the questions on how much Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be provided between 2015 and 2030. ODA remains necessary, especially for poverty alleviation in the least developed and war torn countries.
But ODA alone will not help us achieve the SDG’s. Domestic resources, taxes, in developing countries make up the largest part of financing for the SDG’s. ODA and domestic resources are complemented by other forms of finance. And here again I would like to point out similarities in the Chinese and Dutch approach.

With great interest I read China’s second white paper on foreign aid, setting out China’s recent achievements in the area of development cooperation. For China co-operation should be based on mutual benefit: it should lead to a win-win situation for both partners. This approach certainly resonates with leaders in developing countries. African leaders that I meet prefer trade and investment to aid. In more and more countries that I visit discussions on growth, development and poverty eradication centre around the nexus of trade and investment. Development co-operation funded with ODA remains essential, but in more and more countries the role of ODA in financing development is gradually declining. We need to adapt ourselves to this new reality.

In the Netherlands this has resulted in a key policy shift. I am the first Dutch minister for foreign trade and aid. Investment now plays an important role in Dutch development cooperation. We focus on strengthening enterprise and improving the business climate. I’m convinced that addressing trade, investment and development aid in a coherent approach, with a view to promoting inclusive economic growth and productive employment, is a recipe more countries should follow. And I’m not alone in thinking that. Earlier this year, for example, Denmark also appointed a minister for trade and development cooperation. In Canada the portfolio is also shared.

But more is needed to make sure that trade and investment are beneficial to poverty eradication. It’s important that this business is conducted in a socially responsible and sustainable manner. Not ‘any business is good business’. The growth we strive for must be inclusive. It is key that companies, local and foreign adhere to codes of conduct emanating from the drive towards Corporate Social Responsibility, promoted by international organisations such as the UN or the OECD. In the Netherlands this has taken off on a tremendous scale. Major companies have come to the realisation that it is best for the continuity of their company to organise production in a transparent, responsible and sustainable manner. I guess that food producing companies in China in the dairy industry have come to a similar realisation.

I am convinced that this is an area where China and the Netherlands can usefully collaborate. During my mission I am discussing with Chinese and Netherlands companies how to exchange experiences in promoting the use of sustainably produced palm oil. If palm oil is produced unsustainably it leads to environmental degradation, especially in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. When China and the Netherlands succeed in this collaboration, I expect that this will lead us to a truly win-win-win situation: good for China, good for the Netherlands and good for developing countries (such as Indonesia).

There is more to development than bilateral or trilateral co-operation. We need to strengthen collective approaches such as the UN work on SDG’s and Financing for Development. China and the Netherlands are fully committed to make those processes succeed. But agreeing to lofty ambitions and promises is not enough. We also have to collaborate to turn these words into action.
And that has been my motivation for becoming co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation. Together with the other co-chairs – Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations, José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, and Malawi’s Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Goodall Edward Gondwe – I am making every effort to help nations, business and organisations end poverty by working better together. The Global Partnership is a forum for shared advice, shared learning and shared action. Its aim is to extract principles of effective development cooperation based on our collective experience and learning. And to promote the application of these principles in development practice by all stakeholders: recipients, donors, providers, private and public sector alike. It is my firm conviction that development in these days will only work if a true and effective partnership is forged between the many stakeholders in development. Only then will it be possible to ensure that promised means of implementation will contribute to achieving SDG’s. The Global Partnerships sets out to promote such partnerships and is therefore fully consistent with SDG #17.

To date, 161 governments and 56 organisations have endorsed the Global Partnership Principles. China has been an observer at many Global Partnership events and I am pleased your government has decided to fulfil that role again at the Steering Committee meeting that I will host in The Hague in January next year. I would certainly welcome the close involvement of China and other major international players such as Brazil and India in this Global Partnership. Because we need the collaboration of all to make the SDG’s succeed. And we specifically need the experience of recently developed countries to enrich the policy options of developing countries.

We therefore really need to have everyone on board. And everyone needs to pull his or her weight at the oars. Emerging economies are increasing their international weight. And thus they are expected to pull stronger on the oars.

In closing, I would like to say that I hope we can look beyond the differences in our political systems and beyond our national economic interests, and face the future together. 2015 will be a pivotal year for international development. With good friends by my side, I face the future with confidence. We are in the same boat, as it were. Let us put our backs in pulling the oars and cross the river together.

Thank you.