The new ambassador Kees Rade is not quite there yet
Kees Rade, the new ambassador in Thailand (Laos and Cambodia) is only 'designate' for now. Protocol plays a major role at the Thai court and all steps must be completed before Rade can fully exercise his function.
This became apparent during the first public appearance of the designated ambassador in Hua Hin/Cha Am. Together with his wife Katharina, the head of consular affairs Jef Haenen and his wife Monique, he had come to the seaside resort to meet two weeks after his arrival in Thailand. dealing with the Dutch in Hua Hin and Cha Am.
More than eighty interested people were present at the cozy Happy Family Resort in Cha Am to greet the new representative of the Netherlands. Rade offered a tasty buffet on behalf of the embassy, after Eric Hulst welcomed the distinguished guests on behalf of the board of the Dutch Association Hua Hin and Cha Am (NVTHC). The association succeeded in inviting Rade cs to Hua Hin for a first performance.
Katharina and Kees Rade and Monique and Jef HaenenIn his speech, Rade outlined the procedure for presenting his credentials. That is quite a complicated procedure involving the sending of intentions and the exchange of letters between the Dutch and Thai kings. And the latter is rather 'travelling' and is therefore not always available. He may not return from his stay in Germany until September. In the meantime, an ambassador 'designate' can function, but contacts with the Thai court and official officials are 'not done'.
Rade left no doubt that his first assignment is an economic one. The Netherlands exports to Thailand for one billion euros annually, while the other way around is three billion. The majority of this is exported by our country after processing. The Netherlands is also the largest investor in Thailand of all European countries. According to Rade, this should be further developed.
The future ambassador also wants to dedicate himself to the interests of Dutch people abroad. An estimated 20.000 compatriots live in Thailand, while 200.000 tourists from the Netherlands visit the 'land of smiles' every year.
Kees Rade in conversation with the operator of Happy Family Resort, René BraatKees Rade made a relaxed and open impression during his visit to Hua Hin. After his speech he had a pleasant conversation with many people present, while consul Jef Haenen answered the necessary questions about visas, passports and other consular matters.
Photos: Ad Gillesse
Good, current and useful information for the Dutch community.
Nice that the ambassador-to-be came to meet you.
We shall see, economic interests come first. Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been cut considerably under Rutte, so there is a lot less time, budget and interest for the Dutch citizen or the Thai traveller/family.
Curious what those visa questions and answers were? Soon EU Home Affairs will publish the visa figures for 2017. I will write a piece about that again. I am curious about the annual developments in this area and the statement/comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Also see:
https://www.thailandblog.nl/visum-kort-verblijf/afgifte-schengenvisums-thailand-loep-2016/
And that wanderlust is not too bad, someone likes to stay in southern Germany.
and what about the cultural aspects? the previous ambassadors were very active in this... we will see - or not....
A number of comments:
– 20.000 Dutch people living permanently in Thauiland seems like a lot to me. Particularly because a previous ambassador mentioned a number of 5-10.000. I would like to point out that it is somewhat strange that the embassy does not know exactly how many Dutch people are involved. (voluntary database, passport renewal, all kinds of consular declarations, Schengen visas of spouses);
– if we now assume that there are 8000 Dutch people living in Thailand who – all together – spend an average of 50.000 Baht per month (= 600.000 Baht per year or rounded up to 15.000 Euro), then the monetary impulse amounts to 120 million Euro annually. That seems to me to be a nice economic boost, partly in view of the fact that no money from Thailand goes back to the home country, as is the case with companies;
– I hope that the Dutch companies operating in Thailand pay their Thai employees well (ie more than minimum wage) and are not here to channel so much profit back to the home country, taking advantage of the low wages and sometimes appalling working conditions.
Would like to know whether Dutch companies also pay study costs (secondary school, university) of their employees' children, as Philips used to do to emancipate the Catholic population. Or is investing actually a new form of colonialism? If the latter is the case, I think that all expats together have a greater and more lasting influence on Thai society than all Dutch companies together.
I also have my doubts about the number of 20.000 (but I understand that it is more beneficial for the embassy to raise the bar a bit), I think it is 12.000 at the most. Unfortunately no source or other evidence.