The Netherlands and France signed a ‘Pact for Innovation and Sustainable Growth” on Wednesday that aims to foster cooperation in the fields of digitalisation, key technologies, and industrial sustainability.
The pact was signed as part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the Netherlands, during which he met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Dutch royal family. The pact was signed by Dutch Economy Climate Minister Micky Adriaansens, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Liesje Schreinemacher, French Industry Minister Roland Lescure, and representatives of employer’s unions.
“Great to host the French government and companies in the Netherlands, signing a Pact that further strengthens Dutch-French ties and paves the way for sustainable trade. This opens up opportunities for innovative companies tackling global challenges like climate change”, Schreinemacher tweeted.
The pact foresees close cooperation in several fields, including semiconductor technology, where Dutch company Brainport and the Grenoble region will exchange knowledge. Industrial decarbonisation, the build-up of a more sustainable and diversified energy grid and the reduction of dependencies regarding critical raw materials are also featured in the pact.
“The Netherlands and France want to lead in semiconductors, sustainable energy storage and quantum. Collaboration, for example, between Brainport and [the] Grenoble region around chips is essential for this. The Pact for Innovation and Sustainable Growth strengthens that cooperation,” Adriaansens tweeted.
“I am proud to sign this morning, with Ingrid Thijssen, President of VNO-NCW, the Franco-Dutch Pact for Innovation and Sustainable Growth, to develop our cooperation and the synergies between our economic, industrial and research ecosystems”, Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, the president of France’s employer’s union MEDEF and co-signatory of the pact, said in a tweet.
The pact comes at a time when France and the Netherlands attempt to actively rekindle their relations, especially regarding industrial investment and nuclear energy.
On its part, the Netherlands has also branched out to allies to foster cooperation concerning industry and technology. Just last month, Schreinemacher and Ingrid Thijssen, chairwoman of the Dutch employers’ federation VNO-NCW, visited Japan and South Korea as part of a trade mission, during which they discussed hydrogen and battery technology.
(Benedikt Stöckl | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
