Dutch cricket team beat South Africa to send Pakistan to semi-final, Pakistan hockey team beat Dutch in penalties: CM Baqar
Imran
Dutch cricket team beat South Africa
to send Pakistan to semi-final, Pakistan hockey team beat Dutch in penalties:
CM Baqar
Pak-Dutch celebrate 75 years of
relations
KARACHI Caretaker Sindh Chief
Minister Justice (R) Maqbool Baqar has said that in the 2022 cricket World Cup
in Australia, the Dutch team beat South Africans to send Pakistan to the
semi-final and 1994 Pakistan won the Hockey World Cup, beating a strong Dutch
side on Penalties in Australia.
This he said while speaking at a
reception the Ambassador of Netherlands Mrs Henny de Vries hosted to celebrate
75 years of relationship between Pakistan and the Netherlands here at Mohatta
Palace on Thursday evening.
Justice Baqar said in a lighter mood
that the Dutch have been an all-weather friend to Pakistan. In the 2022 cricket
World Cup in Australia, when they [Dutch] beat the mighty South Africans to
ensure the Pakistan Cricket Team was able to reach the semi-final against all
odds. “Overnight Tom Cooper and Brandon Glover became household names in
Pakistan - it’s a favour we will not forget,” he said.
CM said that 2024 would mark 30 years
since Pakistan last won the Hockey World Cup, beating a strong Dutch side on
Penalties in Australia. “It was a proud moment for the nation which we hope we
can relive again,” he said and requested Dutch friends to maintain constant
interaction with the Pakistan diaspora whether it is in the field of education,
sports or arts and music,” he said.
The CM said that the Netherlands has
been a long-standing partner of sustainable trade and investment in Pakistan
particularly in the dairy and poultry sectors. He added that the ports and
shipping sector has greatly benefitted from Dutch technology – with the
Netherlands providing some of the best-in-class chemical storage terminals,
dredging equipment and tugging solutions for large vessels.
Justice Baqar said that last year 40
Dutch Companies visited Pakistan for the TEXPO 2023 which has been the largest
Trade delegation from the Netherlands in recent years. He hoped that the number
would increase further this year. “The Netherlands has long been a producer and
trading hub for floriculture, and this is where Pakistan can further learn to
produce value-added produce that can be exported to the world,” he said.
The Netherlands is becoming a popular
destination for Pakistani students due to the Netherlands's impressive
education system and ease of communication due to the Dutch having a high
proficiency in English, the CM said and added a Dutch nun successfully set up a
school for orphaned handicapped children back in the 1960s known as Dar ul
Sakoon. The CM recalled the Dutch opened their first Embassy in Karachi in
1955.
Pakistan’s geo-strategic location is
such that the Royal Dutch Airline used to operate a hotel close to the Karachi
airport called the Midway House, the interim CM recalled and said the
significance of this name was that Karachi used to fall right in between
Amsterdam and Jakarta. “Having been given the status of GSP plus, Pakistan has
been able to increase its exports to the Netherlands, surpassing the $1 billion
mark, which means Pakistan is a net exporter to the Netherlands which means
that our products have a brand value and we hope to further strengthen the
`Made in Pakistan’ brand in the Netherlands through people-to-people contact
and creating policies that promote trade and cultural ties,” he said
The Netherlands in 2022 has been kind
enough to send a team of water experts to consult on better water management
practices for which we are grateful to the Dutch Government, the CM said and
added that Pakistan was the 5th largest producer of milk – this is an area of
cooperation we can further collaborate on.
With the 5th largest population in
the world and a growing middle class, Pakistan is ripe for investment in
consumer goods, the CM said and added that Pakistan has been lowering its
reliance on fossil fuels and can benefit from Dutch technology in onshore/offshore
wind energy. Currently, Pakistan only generates five per cent of its energy
from wind and solar. “If the share increases to 35 per cent, it will save the
National exchequer Rs 300 billion, he said and went on to say that the
Netherlands and Pakistan have a shared heritage in seeking freedom of
expression, independence of the judiciary and equal rights for all religious
beliefs.
The Netherlands has been a host to
educating hundreds of Pakistan diplomats through the Clingendael Academy, the
CM said and added that this was only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
people-to-people contact between our two great nations and there were many
other potential avenues of cooperation, in the form of technological
advancement, economic reforms, and innovation in agriculture to name a few.
Justice Baqar said that Pakistan’s
cooperation not only extended to bilateral cooperation but extended to regional
peace and security, ensuring we assisted the Dutch government in the safe
passage of their citizens from regional conflicts (Afghanistan) back to the
Netherlands. “The Dutch government and Pakistan share a common vision to reduce
the global carbon footprint,” the CM said and added although Pakistan only
contributed one per cent of Global Carbon emissions, we were one of the top 10
most affected countries.
The CM said that the Netherlands has
not shied away from being a flag bearer of sustainable and green initiatives,
sending its water experts to Pakistan to assist us [Pakistan] in creating a
sustainable strategy to reduce the destruction caused by recurring floods.
Besides providing Pakistan with strategic advice, Dutch companies are also
providing technology and financing in the form of waste-to-energy plants in
Karachi that have the potential to transform Karachi’s solid waste ecosystem
