Sept06 latest - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Interview with Pim Kraan, 16 August 2006
By Way Ying Lee
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has a new
employee: Pim Kraan, Counsellor/Deputy Head of Mission. He
has taken over the position of Marcel van der Kolk, who after
several years in Singapore has gone to the Permanent Mission
to the European Council in Strassbourg.
On Wednesday the 16 th of August we met Pim Kraan in his
office on Orchard Road in the Liat Towers. Despite the fact
that he has just arrived and had hardly any time to settle in,
or to speak at length with the Ambassador (his Excellency
Mr. Chris C. Sanders whom he is replacing already during his
absence), Pim Kraan was looking very relaxed and he told us
all about his fascinating career, about development and
security politics of the Netherlands and more. Read all about
it in the following interview.
You have a very nice office up here?
Yes, it has the best view I ever had. (red.: The office is at the
13 th floor and has a clear view over a part of Orchard Road and
we recognise the typical Chinese roof of the Marriot Hotel.)
To readers of the ADB magazine it would be nice
to get to know you a little bit. Can you tell us about
yourself?
Ten days ago my wife, Reineke, and I arrived in Singapore. We
got married last April and our first child is on its way. Right
now we are living in that serviced apartment (red.: Pim Kraan
points out one of the tall buildings he can see from his office)
and are busy looking for a house.
Even though we love to travel and have seen many countries
(nb last year September I proposed to Reineke on a hill top
in Zimbabwe), we have never been to Singapore. I did travel
however in many countries in the region like Vietnam, Myanmar,
Laos, Thailand and China.
One of my other hobbies is photography. Many pictures of
mine of the numerous trips over the globe are now at sea in
the container with our furniture and other belongings.
If you have never been to Singapore before, why
did you choose to live and work here?
Even though we had never been here, we pretty much knew
what we could expect. Singapore is known for its
safety, cleanliness and excellent medical facilities
of course. And besides being a large and modern
city, it is also very green. As parents-to-be we
feel that these things are very important.
What does an Embassy
Counsellor do?
In general I am responsible
for the supervision of
the Embassies various
sections, like the
chancery where visa, passports and other official documents
are being issued, as well as the administration and finance
sections. And I am head of the economics department within
the Embassy. The Embassy provides assistance to companies
both in Singapore and in the Netherlands for market access and
sales. Sometimes, companies in Holland just want to find out
what the conditions are for production or regional sales, or they
are looking for associate business partners. Often we only have
to give the names of companies in the required target group.
But we also try to stimulate the development of bilateral
cooperation in certain fields, like research and development,
bio-tech, water management etc.
If the Ambassador is out of the country or otherwise is not
available for certain duties, I will be replacing him. But of
course, I am still new on the block and still fully occupied
finding my way.
It is said that Singapore is the place for Ambassadors
to end their career since their retirement in fact
starts here. Do you think working at the Embassy
based in Singapore is an easy job?
(Laughing) Of course it makes a difference to be working in a
place like Singapore compared to, for instance, London or
Beijing. If I were to go to London I would probably not be the
deputy head of mission, but I would be first secretary or so.
That has to do most with the size of the Embassy, rather than
the post being easy or not. For an Ambassador every posting
has its own challenges and difficulties and working in Asia -as
you all know- is different from Europe or Africa. So it’s hard
to compare. But Singapore is a much wanted and rather
comfortable posting, I would say.
Is it your ambition to become an Ambassador?
For many years I have been in a different line of work. The last
10 years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. This is
my first experience in this particular setting. I am anxious to
learn all there is to know about this job as Counsellor and am
very interested in Dutch trade with Singapore. So I have time
and we’ll see what the next 4 years will bring. And after that…
nobody knows! Although I do have ambitions, that is not what
is on my mind right now.
Can you tell us about your previous professional life?
I have been working for a number of companies, among them:
Philips in Apeldoorn (the Netherlands) and a small scale company
selling fasteners, like screws, nuts and bolts. I studied an MBA
Business Administration and in 1990 decided to work for the
emergency aid organisation Doctors without Borders (Médécins
sans Frontières (MSF)). For about 4 years I worked in war torn
and disaster areas. I started in Turkey and Iraq during the 1 st
Golf war, went to Liberia, Bangladesh, Mexico, Azerbaidjan,
Ivory Coast, Uganda, Angola and Rwanda.
As a logistician and coordinator I was responsible for the
technical and operational support of medical programmes, and
later on the overall management. At some point I joined the
Belgian counterpart of the organization, because at their
activities in Ruanda during the genocide, all Belgian and
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Vol.16 • No. 7 • September 2006