Speech by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, State Visit Sweden, at the Palace Noordeinde

Your Majesty,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you and Queen Silvia here this evening. This is not your first visit to our country. Indeed, we have often met, in the Netherlands and in Sweden. I am therefore especially pleased to be able to greet you in the Netherlands on this State visit. I should also like to take this opportunity to congratulate you both and my godchild, Princess Victoria, on her engagement and wish her every happiness in the future.

What is true of our two families is also true of our countries: we are no strangers to each other. On the contrary, the Swedes and the Dutch encounter one another in numerous fora, hold the same opinions on many subjects and work well together in various fields.

At political level, this cooperation takes place primarily within the European Union. In the second half of this year your country will assume the Presidency of the Union. That responsibility comes at a time of serious economic and financial adversity, which is putting pressure on many of our achievements and making it more difficult to actually carry out all our good intentions.

We in the Netherlands are happy to support the objectives which you wish to place at the heart of your Presidency. It is essential for the Union to hold fast, even in difficult times, to its principles of open markets and the free movement of people and goods. After all, it is to the principles that to a large extent, we owe our prosperity. It is equally vital, despite the stormy economic weather now confronting us, to hold fast to our environmental objectives and honour our commitments. At the end of this year, agreement will hopefully be reached on this at the UN conference in Copenhagen. We note with approval that efforts to this end are among the policy priorities of your Presidency.

The European Union forms the main framework for our consultations. However, the world is bigger than Europe alone. The crisis is affecting not only the rich countries, but also - and to a considerable degree - the poor. Both Sweden and the Netherlands have for many years made substantial contributions to the funding of development cooperation. In doing so we have the same goals and priorities. We focus in particular on reducing poverty and improving health care. We also attach importance to protecting children. Queen Silvia's keen interest in the rights of the child is well known. Accordingly, this subject has been included in the programme for your visit.

Two concepts are characteristic of the Swedish economy: knowledge and know-how. These account for much of its strength. The Swedish knowledge economy is regarded as the most successful in Europe. A very large proportion of the workforce is highly skilled. Large sums are invested in research and development. This is in keeping with your country's long tradition of respect for learning. The world's most prestigious prizes for science are presented in Sweden. Thanks to the vision of Alfred Nobel, the eyes of the whole world are focused on Stockholm every year.

The emphasis on knowledge and research has helped to ensure that for many years Sweden has been able to take pride in a number of industries that are renowned for their advanced technological products. The economic prosperity of your country is also due to its very high employment rate. For decades, a policy of training and retraining has been pursued in the labour market. The fact that women too were encouraged, from an early stage, to participate in the labour process can probably be regarded as 'typically Swedish'.

Sweden and the Netherlands are partners in the economic domain, as the merger of Akzo and Nobel, clearly illustrates. But our countries also cooperate well in the field of education and research. Our universities - notably those of Groningen and Uppsala - maintain close links, as you will be able to see for yourselves in the coming days.

Our cooperation dates back many centuries. Not perhaps to the time of the Vikings, who established the first - and not always peaceful - contacts between our two countries, but certainly to the seventeenth century. The Swedish botanist Linnaeus was a prominent example. During his stay in the Netherlands, this celebrated scientist even managed to persuade a banana plant to flower. A remarkable achievement, given our climate! The numerous activities organised during the Linnaeus Year in two thousand and seven, which was opened by Princess Victoria, bore witness to the extraordinary significance of this great scholar.

Exchanges and mutual influences continue to this day, in both the academic and the cultural fields. For example, many Swedish writers are translated into Dutch and are read by a broad public here. Sweden's achievements in the areas of film and ballet are also much appreciated. In some of our compatriots the love of Sweden is so strong that they emigrate to your country. That too is an illustration of the flourishing ties that exist between our two peoples.

Your Majesty,

For many centuries Sweden and the Netherlands have maintained strong contacts in the cultural, economic and political spheres. This State visit will undoubtedly contribute to the further strengthening of our relations. I should like to ask all those present to raise their glasses and drink with me to your health and that of Queen Silvia and your family, to a bright future for the Swedish people and to the happy continuation of the close cooperation between our two countries.