Toespraak van Zijne Koninklijke Hoogheid de Prins van Oranje tijdens het Chinees-Nederlands seminar over waterbeheer. Bejing, 13 april 1999, gesproken woord geldt.
Your Majesty, your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Let me start by saying how honoured I am to be here in the presence of my parents today at this seminar. In the next few days, you, experts from both China and the Netherlands, will be exchanging views on the challenges water management poses, and how we are to meet them.
An adequate supply of clean, fresh water is one of the conditions that must be met for a society to develop. But water also poses a threat, if there is too much, or if it is polluted.
Guaranteeing an adequate supply of drinking water and water for agriculture, preventing pollution and protecting land from flooding are the challenges that face us in the future.
Though the Netherlands and China are thousands of miles apart, we have many things in common. Both countries are densely populated, highly agricultural in some parts, and hives of industrial activity in others. Like the Chinese, the Dutch are active all over the world, in trade, industry and technology. Indeed, in Europe the Dutch are often referred to as the Chinese of the west.
<<<<<<<<<<<< Your Majesty, your Highness, your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
The Netherlands has a long history of water management. It has not only designed and constructed dikes, but it has also devised systems to prevent water pollution and treat wastewater. It has produced computer models to help solve problems in water distribution, and to underpin decision-making on river management. And it has developed information systems that can predict high water levels in our rivers, so that action can be taken on time and disasters averted. We have institutes that specialise in training water managers. In other words, we have an enormous wealth of experience and knowledge which we would like to share with others.
In the early years of this century, one of our internationally renowned hydraulic engineers, Johannes de Rijke, worked as chief engineer for the Whangpoo River Commission. He shared the knowledge of river management we had at that time with experts in China. I hope that the next few days will lead to an equally productive exchange of knowledge. And I expect that you will lay the foundations for long-lasting cooperation.
I wish you a highly productive, informative seminar.
Thank you.