Plan to strengthen Kenya, Dutch economic relations

Henk Jan Bakker, a career diplomat, has officially taken over duties as the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kenya after he presented his credentials to President William Ruto on August 27.

He succeeds Amb Maarten Brouwer, whose four-year term has ended.

During the presentation of his credentials, Henk said Kenya is the only place he picked as his next place of positing in the three choices they are given.

In a first interview with journalists in Nairobi, he said he had longed to be posted in Kenya for a long time, but the opportunity eluded him.

“When I was posted in Uganda and it was about time for me back in 2019 to try to get to another posting or another position, already at that time Nairobi was number one on my list," he said.

"But in our diplomatic service, you don't always get what you want. There's even a song about that.

"I was sent to Addis Ababa instead and I had a very interesting time there, but then four years later when the time came to reapply and to try to get a position, I decided to put Nairobi back on the top of my wish list because it has a very interesting and has a very broad portfolio for me as an ambassador."

COASTLINE ATTRACTION

He says every day is different in Kenya.

"My agenda is very full but also always full with very interesting things to do, while at the same time it is such a beautiful country,” Henk says.

"The people are fantastic, so it brings all these things together. So that was the reason why I wanted to come to Nairobi.”

The envoy believes his knowledge of the region and its challenges, despite each one being unique, will come in handy, even as he strengthens relations between the two countries.

“I know the region quite well. I haven't been here in Kenya for a couple of months now. I recognise many of the issues that were also relevant in Ethiopia and Uganda,” he says.

"Of course every country is unique. Every country has its specialties and special issues, but I think I have quite a bit of experience in working in all these countries that I can bring to the table here in Kenya."

Asked to make a comparison with his previous posting, the new Dutch ambassador said that while he enjoyed his time serving in Uganda, the country lacked a coastline, just like the other countries he previously served in as ambassador.

This is what makes Kenya different from his other postings, he says.

“In my younger years, I was a sailor. I used to sail the oceans, and I have always been a little bit disappointed with my ministry because my previous posts as ambassador for all three countries were landlocked," he says.

“I've been ambassador in Afghanistan, in Uganda and I was ambassador in Ethiopia, so I am especially happy that I am now in a country where I can go to the ocean. Diani, Lamu or wherever, and smell the sea, swim, be on the coast.”

GROWING TIES

Henk is banking on the gains of his predecessor, Brouwer, and his experience in diplomatic service in the region to grow Kenya’s economic relations with the Netherlands.

While at the beginning of the Kenya – Dutch relations, 60 years ago, it was all about development, it has now shifted towards economic relations of trade and investment.

Henk plans to find ways of increasing trade.

“We are the third-largest export destination for Kenya in the world, and a lot of that has to do with flowers and horticulture and agribusiness. That is a position we really are proud of, but we want to expand that," he says.

“We have about 150 Dutch companies who are active in Kenya. We want to see if we can find other areas of collaboration as well."

He cited renewable energy, life sciences, health, logistics and transport.

"(We want to) find (areas for) Dutch investment in Kenya, create jobs, create exports but also the other way around, for the Kenyan private sector to develop and have a business relationship with our country,” Henk says.

Already the Dutch Embassy in Nairobi is involved in projects that will ensure greener ways of transporting Kenyan produce, including flowers and avocados.

While this has over time been done by air transport, which has very high carbon footprints, they are setting up infrastructure to enable transportation by sea to the Netherlands and other parts of Europe.

Henk, however, noted that it is not something that can be done once because it needs investments and a vision to have it in place and operational.

Luckily, they already have partners in Kenya and Netherlands to have it done in a few years.

“We are slowly but certainly trying to get the infrastructure ready so that flowers and other horticultural products, fruits, vegetables can be transported by sea freight," Henk says.

"For instance, we are working with the inland container depot in Naivasha. We are setting up the infrastructure there so that containers can be cooled and stay cool and that the flowers can be transported by train to Mombasa and then by container by sea to the Netherlands.”

He terms this a much more climate-friendly way of exporting flowers and other produce to the Netherlands or to the rest of Europe.

WATER, FOOD SECURITY

The embassy is working with some counties in Kenya to help with water management as well as ensure food security.

It has already signed a deal with Nakuru City to make it the first sponge city in Africa.

Through this project, they plan to change the face of the city and make it much greener so it can absorb the water that it currently fails to retain, and use it when there is not enough water.

Hanks says the challenge of too much water when it rains is one the Netherlands also faces.

“We signed the MoU earlier this week. It has to do with dealing with three types of problems when it comes to water management: either too much water, too little water or water that is too polluted,” he says.

"You have to find ways to make cities and counties more resilient to these three problems."

He says this requires collaboration between all kinds of players, including government, NGOs, business communities and academia.

It takes a lot of time and planning, but he hopes to complete the task by the end of his four years.

On food security and agriculture, the embassy is working with Northern and arid counties to help them come up with agricultural systems that don’t have to depend on water for food production.

“In our food security and agriculture area, we focus more on northern counties that have problems that are arid that are not endowed with the sort of the natural circumstances that parts of Kenya are so famous for," he says.

Some of the areas in the south and in the west are very fertile, but other areas are not, he says.

"We have decided in our food security programmes to focus on some of those northern counties to try to help them set up agriculture systems that are less reliant on the water, that are more efficient in their water and land use, so that we can develop the country as a whole.”

To mark 60 years of Kenya – Dutch relations, a Life Science and Health Conference will be held in October in Nairobi to share expertise with Kenya to improve health outcomes.

“Dutch companies will be travelling to Kenya, and part of that is for technical solutions,” he says.

"But part of it comes back to Dutch Diamonds, where in the Netherlands health sector, we try to find collaborations with different sectors and find effective solutions looked at from all angles."

In his tray, migration-related issues will also feature, given that it is one of the priority issues in the new Dutch government.

As we wrap up the interview, Henk says that so far, his first impression of Kenya has been fantastic. He finds it incredibly friendly and welcoming.

He adds that there is a lot to do and he is very much looking forward to the next four years of his term.

“My job here is to expand on the relations built over the last 60 years and make sure that when I leave in four years, my successor will have an even higher step on the ladder of our bilateral relations.”