“I am honoured to address a warm congratulation message to the people of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on occasion of the celebration of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix’s birthday – Koninginnedag, on April 30.

There is no doubt that Romania has many reasons to rejoice together with the Netherlands. The two countries share an important number of values and objectives, at both European and global level, and we are constantly aiming at improving our extensive and constructive bilateral relationship. The landmark of 130 years of diplomatic relations offers us yet another reason to celebrate this year.

Our relationship has been consolidated in the process of Romania’s NATO and EU accession. The Netherlands has been an objective and pragmatic partner, ready to help where needed, providing the extensive assistance we needed in order to cope with the requested standards. For these, we are grateful.

Today, we are constantly consulting each other as partners on relevant matters on the European and Euro-Atlantic agenda, sharing many interests and common goals in this respect. We are willing and able to identify new opportunities and projects of mutual interest, best reflected by our extensive bilateral cooperation in “traditional” fields such as agriculture, banking, financing, transports, public administration as well as in modern areas like energy, environment, strategic planning, water management.

When looking at Romanian – Dutch ties, one cannot overlook the fact that, for about ten years now, the Netherlands has been the main source of foreign investments in Romania. The public and private sectors in both Romania and the Netherlands are constantly working towards supporting and consolidating this position of Dutch investors in Romania. Besides supporting economic growth in both countries, such a level of investments is also useful in the efforts to reduce trade deficit on the Romanian side, which is around EUR 1 bln. We are confident that things are moving in the right direction, as current Dutch foreign economic policy lists Romania as one of the top fifteen target countries for investments. We also welcome the emphasis placed by this strategy on the role of the public-private partnerships, for this is a field where Romania and the Netherlands are cooperating intensely.

Of particular interest to the economic relationship between our countries are the strategic positions of the ports of Constanta and Rotterdam, which offer significant perspectives for cooperation. In this context, the Rhine – Main – Danube corridor can be used for developing projects of major impact at European level in the fields of transports, environment and sustainable development.

The links between Romania and the Netherlands are strong across the board, but they are especially tight – or are on the rise – in many other particular fields. There is interest in strengthening cooperation in the fields of justice reform and combating corruption. Netherlands has already had a significant contribution, with funds and expertise, to Romania’s progress.

As with any relationship, there are also issues where further dialogue is needed before partners see things the same way. For instance, Romania is advocating a progressive opening of the Dutch labour market for Romanian citizens, which we strongly believe to be beneficial for both parties.

As official Dutch figures show, there has not been a major “wave” of Romanian workers flooding the labour market in the Netherlands. Many Romanians have come to work in the Netherlands on a seasonal basis, in response to the yearly peaks in demand for labour from horticultural companies, a sector that is most representative of Dutch economy.

Moreover, Romanians are increasingly active in highly-skilled areas such as education and research. A very good example in this respect is the accomplishment of Mrs Raluca Marin-Perianu, who was awarded the “Physicist Christiaan Huygens” 2009 Prize for the best doctoral thesis in the Netherlands. On that occasion, a Dutch university received for the first time in its history this high recognition due to one of its Romanian students.

It is our hope that all strands in the link between Romania and the Netherlands will offer the same sort of success story.

The people of the Kingdom of the Netherlands celebrate their Queen and their country not so much with state ceremony, but especially through a sense of community. Under the auspices of this genuine and joyous celebration, I renew my warmest wishes of success and prosperity to the Dutch Government, and to the people of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.”