The Ambassador was received by Sandra Krpan, Rijeka deputy mayor, Vojko Braut, deputy president of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and Stefan Mataja Mafrici, a member of the Committee for Interurban and International Cooperation of the Rijeka City Council.

Deputy mayor Krpan presented to the ambassador the most important projects of the City of Rijeka related to the development of the Rijeka transport corridor, the port of Rijeka, the construction of D-403 road, the second railway track, the strengthening of public city transport and entrepreneurial services and infrastructure. She also spoke about the programmes dedicated to children and youth, like the construction and reconstruction of kindergartens and nurseries, rental housing construction for young people, the development of sports and recreation and the Art Quarter Benčić and the Children’s House, as the legacy of Rijeka ECC 2020. Krpan also presented the social programme of Rijeka and active inclusion of citizens of all age groups in city programmes. She highlighted the project “Rijeka Smart City” with the application of new ICT solutions in the city system.

“Rijeka is a city that is well placed as a Smart City with a high level of digitisation of city services, which, along with its geostrategic position and importance of the Port, the shipbuilding industry and the strong pharmaceutical industry, and the growing ICT industry and tourism, makes it attractive to Dutch companies and investors. The city is ready for the next phase of digital transformation of public services, utility companies, corporations and institutions, but we still need to strengthen activities to retain and return the young and working-age population, while ensuring the conditions for young families to stay and work”, said Krpan.

H.E. Hendrik Jan Voskamp, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the RC and Sandra Krpan deputy mayor

During the reception, common topics related to immigration, tolerance and equality acceptance were discussed. Krpan spoke about Civic education that Rijeka had introduced as the first city in Croatia, making her very proud of that, while the Ambassador said that in 120 elementary schools in the Netherlands pupils were taught tolerance towards people of a different religion or skin colour.

As regards cooperation between Rijeka and the Netherlands, deputy Krpan highlighted the Zagreb Deep Sea container terminal project, for which a concession for development and economic use for a period of 50 years was awarded to a consortium consisting of APM TERMINALS B.V. from the Netherlands and ENNA Logic from Croatia. In terms of importance and value, this is the largest contract in the history of the Port of Rijeka.

Furthermore, Rijeka cooperated with Dutch cities through the European Week of Regions and Cities, programme dedicated to economic and social challenges. Cooperation also took place in the field of culture of the university. Thus, during the period when Rijeka prepared its candidacy for the European Capital of Culture, it cooperated with two Dutch cities, Maastricht and Leeuwarden, gaining valuable experience about their preparations for candidacy.

Krpan also pointed out that a delegation from the University of Rijeka and the City of Rijeka, at the invitation of the University of Maastricht, had visited that city on several occasions. The University of Rijeka is part of the network “Young Universities in the Future of Europe” (YUFE) funded by the European Commission, which aims to connect different European universities and create a university platform on European level.

H.E. Hendrik Jan Voskamp, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of Croatia, has a rich diplomatic career behind him and speaks several foreign languages. As he emphasised during the reception, the outbreak of the pandemic had disrupted all diplomatic plans, including his inaugural visit, as well as the previously agreed support for the ECC 2020 project.

“That’s exactly why I asked to extend my stay in Croatia by one year in order to make up for and correct what I missed, and that’s why I’m here today. I am familiar with the investments of Dutch companies in Rijeka. Croatia has a good image among the Dutch as a tourist country,” said the Ambassador, among others.

During the morning, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Henk Jan Voskamp, opened the scientific meeting “Human Rights and the Question of Identity” at the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka and held a meeting with the rector of the University, Snježana Prijić Samaržija.

In the afternoon, it was planned that the ambassador would participate in the planting of a tree within the campaign “Plant a tree, don’t be a stump!” in front of the High School for Electrical Engineering and Computing and Electroindustrial and Trade School in Rijeka. However the bad weather postponed that activity for another occasion. The ambassador said that the planting of trees was part of a big campaign in Croatia that he gladly accepted. With this campaign the Netherlands marks the 30th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was accompanied by Vanda Pošćić, Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of the Netherlands based in Opatija, and Milo Makaske and Lea Šiljak, Senior Offices for Political Affairs, both from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Republic of Croatia.