THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190648
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
Hampton Roads has more than military ties with the Netherlands, the nation being honored this year at this year's Norfolk International Azalea Festival.
Maritime trade also links the region's port with the Netherlands, said Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged, the Dutch ambassador to the United States. Jacobovits spoke Thursday at the Azalea Festival's International Trade Luncheon. The festival celebrates the ties between nation-members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the military alliance set up at the beginning of the Cold War to defend Western Europe.
``We are, for a nation of traders, in an ideal situation logistically,'' Jacobovits said of the Netherlands. ``We are at the end of major rivers reaching into Europe. (Hampton Roads) is in a similar situation and you, like us, understand the importance of infrastructure. I have seen your port and your railroad.''
Indeed, there's active trade between the port of Hampton Roads and ports in the Netherlands, particularly Rotterdam, the largest port in the world.
The Netherlands' principal import from Norfolk is coal, Jacobovits said. Coal is followed by tobacco products and chemicals.
But the tiny nation known for its dikes and tulips is more of a way station than a destination for goods shipped from Norfolk. About 50 percent of U.S. exports to European Union nations are shipped through Netherlands ports. by CNB