The Ambassador, Mr Andre Haspels was welcomed by the Executive Mayor of the Greater Oudtshoorn, Gordon April at a special meeting held on Friday, to share successes and current projects linked to the twinning relationship.
Also present at this meeting was Mr Koos van Arkel, the chairperson of the Stichting Platform Stedenband Oudtshoorn, the community part of the twinning relationship.
Van Arkel gave a brief history of the origin of the twinning relationship between the two towns and mentioned that there is an area of the Alphen aan den Rijn called Oudtshoorn.
The Manager, Strategic Services also responsible for international relations, Mr Lluwellyn Coetzee highlighted a number of successes the two municipalities have achieved. In his overview of completed projects on HIV/Aids and Social Housing, Mr Coetzee highlighted the implementation of HIV/Aids awareness programmes, establishment of a skills development centre, the Centre of Hope and successful securing of funding for the Social Housing project, the first to be implemented in the Western Cape out of the Cape Metro.
"The presentation of the progress made in Oudtshoorn was good and informative, it was also interesting to listen to the historical background of the twinning relationship between Oudtshoorn and Alphen aan den Rijn.
"There are a lot of good things happening in this partnership and I'm happy to hear that." said Haspels.
Responding on the possibility of trade and investment opportunities between Oudtshoorn and Alphen aan den Rijn, the Ambassador said: "There might be a smaller portion of finance to fund mission match-making also involving other Dutch and South Africa twinning relationships. There may also be a possibility to fund market studies to identify needs especially on programmes concerning our focus areas such as transport and logistics, water, sustainable energy and agriculture, and horticulture.
The Dutch ambassador, André Haspels (third from the left) met with councillors and officials last week. With him are (from the left) Jurie Harmse (Chairperson: Strategic Services), Koos van Arkel (Chairperson of the Stichting Platform Stedenband Oudtshoorn), Gordon April (Executive Mayor), Lluwellyn Coetzee (Manager: Strategic Services) and Deon Lott (Acting Municipal Manager).
