Ploumen Goes to China

Together with a large trade delegation, Minister Lilianne Ploumen of Foreign Affairs will begin her official visit to China on Sunday. She will go to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. The delegation is composed of representatives of 50 Dutch companies. These are mainly companies from the waste, renewable energy, agri-food, aviation and services sectors. Ploumen will speak with, among others, Minister Gao Hucheng of Commerce and Minister Zhi Shuping of Market Access. The discussions will cover topics such as the investment climate, the environment and working conditions. In Beijing, Ploumen will be at the opening of the Design Week, where she will promote Dutch designs. She will hand over a ‘van Moof design bike’ to the Chinese capital. In Chengdu she will open the Netherlands Business Support Office, where Dutch companies doing business in China can get help. Ploumen will stay in China until May 10. During the same period, a delegation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs will visit Beijing and Shanghai. The committee was invited by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese parliament. The last time that a parliamentary delegation visited China was in 2001.