Business in the Netherlands, Amsterdam

The objectives of the subject “International Trade and Business in” the Netherlands (Holland)” are the following:

1. To analyse the Dutch Economy and Foreign Trade (Import, Export, FDI)
2. To know the business opportunities in the Dutch market
3. To analyse the trade relations of the Netherlands with the country of the student
4. To know the Free Trade Agreements of the Netherlands as a member of the European Union
5. To develop a business plan for the Dutch market

Transport and Logistics in the Netherlands

1. Port of Rotterdam
2. North Sea-Baltic Transport Corridor (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium)
3. North Sea-Mediterranean Transport Corridor (Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France)

Dutch Preferential Access and Free Trade Agreements

1. The Netherlands and the European Economic Area
2. European Union
   1. Economic and Monetary Union
   2. European Customs Union
   3. European Single Market
   4. EU Services Directive
   5. European Digital Single Market
   6. As a member of the European Union, the Netherlands is a beneficiary of the EU Free trade agreements with Algeria, Ivory Coast, South Africa, South Korea, Chile, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, India, Mexico, MERCOSUR, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia etc. besides the Customs Union with Turkey
3. Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) (observer country)

Trade Facilitation Programs

1. World Trade Organisation (WTO)
   1. WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
   2. WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
   3. WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
   4. WTO Agreement on Preshipment Inspection (PSI)
   5. WTO Agreement on Safeguards (SG)
   6. WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)
2. World Customs Organisation (WCO)
   1. Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC)
3. International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods
4. International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
5. Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF)
6. International Bureau of Containers and Intermodal Transport (BIC)
7. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO, Chicago Convention)
8. International Maritime Organisation (IMO)
   1. International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC)
   2. Convention Relating to Temporary Admission (Istanbul Convention)
9. Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (Rotterdam Rules, UN)
10. Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR, UN)
11. Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of International Carriage of Goods by Rail (CIM, CIT)
12. International Road Transport Union (IRU)
    1. TIR Convention
    2. Guidelines on Safe Load Securing for Road Transport
13. International Chamber of Shipping (ICS)
14. Customs Convention on Containers (CCC, UN) - not a member

European Trade and Economic Organisations

1. European Union
   1. European Central Bank
   2. European Investment Bank (EIB)
   3. EU-CELAC Summit
   4. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
   5. Group of States of the European Council Convention against Corruption (GRECO)
2. Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
3. Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

Global Organisations

1. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
2. African Development Bank (AfDB)
3. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
4. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
5. Asian Development Bank (ADB)
6. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
7. United Nations (UN)
   1. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
   2. International Trade Centre (INTRACEN)
   3. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
8. World Bank (WB)
9. World Trade Organisation (WTO)
10. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
11. Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)

The Netherlands is an observer country to the Association of Caribbean States (ACS)

The Kingdom of the Netherlands (Europe)

1. Capital of the Netherlands: Amsterdam and The Hague
2. Official Language: Dutch
3. Dutch Area: 41,543 square kilometres
4. Dutch Population: 17 million people (one of the most densely populated countries in the world)
5. Type of Government of the Netherlands: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
6. Borders of the Netherlands: Germany and Belgium
7. Dutch Independence: 1581 (Spain)
8. The three Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba belong to the Netherlands and are considered as overseas territories of the European Union, i.e., they are not part of the customs union or Schengen area
9. Indonesia (Dutch East Indies, independence in 1949), Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, belonged to the Dutch colonial empire
10. Abolition of Slavery: 1814
11. The headquarters of the International Court of Justice (United Nations) are in The Hague

Religion in the Netherlands: Christianity

1. Catholicism: 27%
2. Protestantism: 17%.
3. The Baptist Church was created by John Smyth in the Netherlands

The Netherlands belongs to the Western Civilisation (European Economic Area)

Economy of the Netherlands (Holland).

1. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of the most developed countries in the world, occupying the third place in human development (United Nations Human Development Index)
2. According to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the Netherlands is the 18th largest economy in the world
3. The global financial crisis triggered a major crisis
4. The Netherlands has been a member of the European Union since 1958
5. Currency of the Netherlands: Euro (1999)
6. Dutch GDP (nominal): 836,000 million EUR
7. GDP per capita of the Netherlands: EUR 50,087
8. 79% of the Dutch workforce works in the services sector
9. The Netherlands is the eighth most competitive country in the world
10. The main Dutch industrial activities are food processing, chemical industries, petroleum refining, electric machines
11. The main Dutch companies are Royal Dutch Shell (oil), ABN AMRO Bank, Philips (consumer electronics), Heineken (Beers), Unilever (consumer products), KLM
12. Many non-Dutch companies are based in the Netherlands, such as EADS, LyondellBasell and IKEA, due to low corporate taxes
13. The Netherlands has significant natural gas resources

Dutch Foreign Trade

1. Dutch agri-food sector is crucial and highly export oriented (the third largest food product exporter in the world)
2. The main Dutch Exports are natural gas, machinery, chemical products, fuels, food products
3. Top Dutch exports destinations: Germany (24%), Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Italy
4. The main Dutch Imports are machinery, transport equipment, chemical products, fuels, foods, textiles
5. The main suppliers of the Netherlands are Germany, China, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Russia, Norway
6. As a member of the European Union, the Netherlands is the beneficiary of the EU Free trade agreements with the ASEAN, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia...
7. The Port of Rotterdam is the seventh largest port of the world for container traffic and the largest European port. Distances from the Port of Rotterdam to:
   1. Port of Durban (South Africa): 8,156 Km / 34 days
   2. Port of Duala (Cameroon): 5,092 Km / 21 days
   3. Port of Dakar (Senegal): 2,558 Km / 8 days
   4. Port of Mombasa (Kenya): 7,120 Km / 29 days
   5. Port of Casablanca (Morocco): 1,681 Km / 7 days