NTIO connects the Netherlands and Taiwan

The Netherlands Trade & Investment Office (NTIO) is the subsidiary in Taiwan of a Dutch foundation dedicated to the promotion of commercial ties between The Netherlands and Taiwan. NTIO stimulates Dutch exports to Taiwan as well as Taiwanese investments in The Netherlands. The incumbent Representative of NTIO, Mr. Menno Goedhart, who took the post in August 2002, stressed the ties between the Netherlands and Taiwan are very close, and NTIO is playing a role bridging both sides. "The Office consists of three sections with a staff of 18 people: Education, Trade and Agricultural & Food, and the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, all contribute their efforts to improve and promote the relations in every field," Mr. Goedhart said.

Overseas study has become a trend in Taiwan as English-learning is very important at a global village. Most of Taiwan students would choose America, Canada, England or Australia for studying, however, Mr. Goedhart recommends Holland as another good destination for students wishing to study abroad. "The Netherlands' higher education institutions conduct more than 600 of their study programs in English for the benefit of international students. No other non-English-speaking country in the world offers such a large and varied range of possibilities. Many of the study programs lead to master's degrees, but the pursuit of a PhD is also possible, and programs are offered at bachelor's level. In addition, there are many highly specialized short courses that fall outside the system of degrees. But in all of these international programs and courses, the fact that students come from all over the world is taken into account," Mr. Goedhart explained. The Representative added by saying "Holland is absolutely a good place for Taiwan students to go for study and the NTIO has been putting a lot of efforts on it with 40 scholarships offered by Dutch institutions and companies this year, which amounted to a total of NT$10 million." Even though there are about 150 Taiwan students go to the Netherlands for study this year, the growing numbers of that can be expected in the coming years with the Office's best endeavors to attract more students and foreign schools to the annual European Education Fair.

"Plenty of higher education institutions from France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden would participate in the show to exchange knowledge and experience and take the opportunity to introduce higher education institutions in Europe to Taiwan students," Mr. Goedhart indicated.

Dutch higher education is at the high level you would expect, given this background. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science helps ensure this through a system of peer review which enlists independent experts-often from abroad as well as from home-to make periodic assessments of each programme of study. These reports are made public and discussed in the media, making them an effective system of quality control. If the findings are not what they should be, the Minister does not hesitate to intervene.

The Netherlands and Taiwan also remain a stable and strong economic and trade ties, according to Mr. Goedhart. "Taiwan is a still a market with great potentials, so we try to attract more investors from Holland. More and more Dutch investors do their business here. However, Holland is the largest investment country in Taiwan from Europe."

The trade section of NTIO provides services to both Taiwanese and Dutch companies. Dutch companies are in general offered the services such as selection of address information of Taiwanese companies, providing basic company information, conducting general and/or specific market research, support for individual and collective business visits to Taiwan, mediation in trade disputes, information on recent economic developments and trade policies, and assistance in establishing contacts with Taiwanese governmental organizations. In the same time, Taiwanese companies which approach the Office with trade enquiries are provided with extensive information on Dutch companies, products and trade fairs. The Top 5 imports from the Netherlands to Taiwan for 2003 are Electrical machinery and equipment and parts; Optical, measuring, and medical insurance; Organic chemicals; Iron and steel; Machinery and mechanical appliances. While the Top 5 exports to the Netherlands from Taiwan are Machinery and mechanical appliances; Electrical machinery and equipment and parts; Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock, and parts; Plastics and articles thereof; Articles of iron or steel. "I consider Taiwan a great place to invest for Dutch companies and businessmen. Therefore, I will strive to work on strengthening the economic relationships in the future," the Representative reiterated.

The Netherlands is a major destination in Europe for Taiwanese business travelers and tourists. It ranks as one of the worlds top locations for international conferences and was recently rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the world's #1 business environment. "As the Netherlands are approximately the same size as Taiwan with a modern traffic infrastructure, tourists can conveniently combine beaches, museums, shopping and much more in a stop-over stay or longer holiday. Now with an average of 1,000 Taiwanese visit the country per month, we expect there will be a growth on it," Mr. Goedhart said. For information on Dutch culture and entertainment, hotels and campings, banking, car rental, tax-free shopping, climate and so on, the Netherlands Board of Tourism website is a good start. Visitors will also find a table with traveling distances and times. For extensive flight information, on-line bookings and more Holland information, the KLM Asia website is a good access.

Talk about his goals for the future, Mr. Goedhart clearly expressed his ambitions saying, "to increase substantially the bilateral cooperation and to have more exchanges between the Netherlands and Taiwan. There are enough opportunities because Taiwan and Netherlands companies and institutions both showed their keen interest."