The Charge ad Interim in the affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of Belarus Paul Van Oostvein met the students of Brest State A.S. Pushkin University

On November, 10 the Charge ad Interim in the affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of Belarus Paul Van Oostvein met the students of our university. The meeting was held as an open dialog. Rector of BrSU Anna N. Sender introduced the guest to the audience. Whereas Mr. Charge said that he represented the office of the Embassy of the Netherlands opened in Minsk last year.

The Guest’s welcoming speech consisted of three parts and was accompanied by presentation. Mr. Charge asked questions about the Netherlands and gave presents for the right answers.

Going back to the history of the State Paul Van Oostvein explained the reasons why the State that he represented was called both the Netherlands and Holland. It appeared that the right variant was the Netherlands because the State consists of 42 provinces in which only two of them are Holland themselves. It is Holland province where the most important cities such as Amsterdam, the Hague and Rotterdam are situated.

Moving on to the next part of the conversation the Speaker mentioned relations of the Netherlands with the European Union and draw attention to its exceptional importance for the State for a couple of reasons. The most important ones are security guarantee and the market distribution area for flowers and agricultural products that it provides. Mentioning Eastern Partnership Paul Van Oostvein told that the Country is proud of good relationship with such countries as Belarus, Armenia and Moldova etc.

Then Mr. Charge turned the floor over to the audience and answered the questions. Students were interested in basic directions of the relations between Belarus and the Netherlands as well as peculiarities of the system of education, relevant professions and sports in the Netherlands. Students knew that relations between the countries are based on economic cooperation and public diplomacy. The information that it is possible to study almost all the languages in the Netherlands was one of the most interesting ones. The most relevant and well paid professional sphere is the sphere of IT. State assistance of the sports depends on the success that it achieves.

In conclusion Anna Nickolaevna thanked Paul Van Oostvein for the interesting and informative dialogue with our students and made a present of promotional merchandise with the brand marks of our university.

Yulia Vovk. Editor of the Student club