Toespraak van staatssecretaris Dijksma in het Sino Dutch Dairy Development Center

Toespraak | 25-10-2015

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

The label 'Made in China' is familiar to everyone in the Netherlands. It's found on many products that we use every day. 'Made in Holland' may be less commonplace in China. But our countries are fast on the way to changing that.

Chinese demand for Dutch products, knowledge and technology – especially in agriculture – is growing. When President Xi Jinping visited our country last year, he was very interested in our state-of-the-art agricultural technologies, like milking robots. It was an honour, of course, to show the president what the Netherlands can offer. Because we’re convinced our expertise and experience can help China boost its agriculture sector.

Your population is growing larger and more prosperous. The challenge for China will be to provide everyone with good-quality food. Like dairy products, which are healthy and nutritious. Demand for dairy is growing quickly here. That’s why China wants to raise dairy production from 35 billion kilograms last year to 50 billion kilograms in 2020. And at the same time improve the quality of dairy products. That’s quite ambitious.

The Netherlands can be a good partner for you in achieving this ambition. We may not seem big – we're only the 15th-largest milk producer in the world. But when you look at yield per cow, not many can beat us. Our dairy companies also set the standard for processing milk into high-quality products. And we're experts in bulk dairy distribution.

During President Xi Jinping’s visit, China and the Netherlands agreed that Dutch companies would share their knowledge and expertise to help provide all 1.3 billion Chinese people with nutritious dairy products.

But our cooperation goes back further. The Sino-Dutch Dairy Development Centre was launched two years ago at a ceremony attended by our prime minister, Mark Rutte. I’m so pleased to finally see the SDDDC for myself. And I’d like to thank you for inviting me to say a few words at the close of your seminar.

Over the last two years, the Centre's founders – China Agricultural University, Wageningen University and Royal FrieslandCampina – have worked hard to get the SDDDC off the ground. They were soon joined by CRV, Rabobank and Beijing SinoFarm. I congratulate you all on your excellent achievement. The Centre has also attracted new partners. I wish Yili Group, Huishan Dairy, Huahuaniu Milk Industry and Eastern Bell every success in this cooperation. Important work is being done here. Our King and Queen’s visit later today testifies to that.

The work of the SDDDC perfectly matches the aims of the memorandum of understanding that we signed last year. The Centre seeks to boost China’s dairy production and improve the quality of its dairy chain and the level of food safety. The training provided to dairy experts and policymakers here covers the entire dairy chain, from feed to manure and from grass to glass.

Here at the SDDDC, Dutch expertise is shared on ration formulations, practical training, genetics, farm management, animal health and welfare, and milk processing. We also offer expertise in smart logistics and cold chain technologies, which prevent loss of quality when shipping products to consumers.

Sharing agricultural knowledge and technology ties in with our policy in this area. Our products are already sold around the world. And we're always looking to expand our markets. China has become the largest export destination for Dutch agricultural products outside the European Union: 2.6 billion euros’ worth of food, feed and flowers were exported to China in 2014. Dairy products account for nearly 40 per cent of those exports.

But that's not all the Netherlands has to offer. The world will have over nine billion mouths to feed by 2050. The only way to do that will be to find more efficient methods of cultivation and use natural resources wisely. This applies particularly to China and the Netherlands. We both know what it means to have limited land available for food production. The Netherlands wants to be a frontrunner in enabling farmers to feed the global population.

To safeguard that leading position, the Dutch government promotes partnerships between business and the scientific community. And not only for the benefit of the domestic market. We aim specifically to export our knowledge to other countries, so that they too can achieve higher food production levels. So it makes sense for us to invest in a strong Chinese dairy industry: more high-value dairy production in China will contribute to a balanced food supply and enhance global food security.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The ties between our countries go beyond the excellent relations between our governments. Last year's agreement on dairy cooperation would have little value without private sector involvement. China and the Netherlands have built an impressive trade and investment relationship in dairy. With Chinese companies investing in Dutch processing plants and Dutch companies investing in China’s dairy chain.

We understand each other perfectly because we have similar ambitions and face similar challenges. So it’s easier for our businesses and knowledge institutions to work together. With our governments’ support, these partnerships can foster new business opportunities and reciprocal trade and investment. The Netherlands also believes that economic cooperation will benefit from greater transparency in legislation and simpler regulations.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Netherlands has come to China with a large delegation. This shows how much we value our good relations with China. We're grateful for the confidence that your government and your people have in our products and expertise. And we are confident that 'Made in Holland' – or perhaps 'Developed in Holland' – will become just as familiar here as 'Made in China' is in my country.

Thank you.