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Building bridges between UAE and Netherlands over commerce

Benelux Business Council is working to strengthen bilateral trade ties and relations between European nations and the UAE

The history of the Benelux Business Council dates back to 2010. We have been instrumental in solidifying bilateral relations between the three Benelux nations, namely Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg, with the UAE, mainly Abu Dhabi.
We are a small non-profit organisation that acts as the voice of the business community in the region, interfacing between major stakeholders such as governmental and institutional actors, chambers of commerce and potential investors, and our members. This is primarily achieved through the planning, organisation, and conducting network events, both formal and informal.
Besides oil and gas, we also represent all other major sectors, including construction, healthcare, finance, transport and logistics, defence, telecommunications and industry. Around 20 to 30 per cent of our members, or 400 to 500 companies, are in the oil and gas sector, and are mostly Dutch companies.
Our core function is to act as an intermediary, and as such, we rely significantly on our human capital to build bridges and interface between various stakeholders. An obvious anchor is the Dutch Ambassador, Frank J M Mollen, while our Chairman Vania Henry, as a Luxembourger national, retains excellent relations with the Luxembourg Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian. Fellow Board member Henriane Mourgue d'Algue liaises with the Belgian Ambassador Dominique Mineur.
The biggest challenge right now is the low price of oil, which has implications for the way businesses manage expendable capital for the next few years, but there are still many growth opportunities.
The Council is constantly developing new ways of networking. For instance, at Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2015, in addition to the usual breakfast and networking events, we participated in a speed-dating event on the last day. That was a novel and efficient way of meeting many different people, along with the option of following-up with specific people identified as particularly interesting. 
For more information on upcoming events, visit our website: http://portal.beneluxbc.com/ 
Come and join us for our upcoming event for BBC members, non-BBC members, colleagues and friends to network, socialise and relax in an informal environment. 
(Paul Boelens is a Board of Director at the Benelux Business Council in the UAE.)