Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd) 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.
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. 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 (Harvest Waste).
