Lord Jim of Dilling - Diplomat Magazine

D I P L O M A T I C T R AV E L Q A s p e c i a l f e a t u r eDiscover the Netherlandswith Ambassador Wim Geertsand his familyBy Anna RijkHolland is a versatilecountry. It’s quite small,but there is a lot goingon and so much to see.Visit its many museums,cycle through the bulbfields, sail the Dutch waterways, sleep inits castle or hotels, use it as your gatewayto Europe. Everyone in Holland speaksEnglish and is very friendly.Wim Geerts, Ambassador of theNetherlands to Canada, his wife Theaand their daughters Suzanne and Lisashow you their favourite destinations.Wim Geerts:‘Polderen is typically Dutch’“More than half of Holland is below sealevel and more than 20 per cent of theland has been reclaimed from the seaand turned into so-called polders, bydraining the lakes.L E F T T O R I G H T : T h e a , L i s a , S u z a n n e a n d W i m G e e r t sp o l d e r – w i n d m i l l sMy country is famous for these polders.Without dikes and pumps, largeparts of the Netherlands would disappearunder water again. For me, thelink between the polders and politics isappealing, mainly because many of ourvalues, such as open-mindedness, innovationand cooperation, originated fromthe ongoing Dutch struggle with water.They were a necessity for survival.Decision-makingNowadays the so-called ‘polder model’is a term used to describe the internationallyacclaimed Dutch version of consensuspolicy in economics. However,the term was quickly adopted for a muchwider meaning, for similar cases of consensusdecision-making, which are typicallyDutch.When you visit the Netherlands youhave to visit those areas. Walk, bike ordrive, and experience yourself why theDutch needed to ‘polder’ and why theyhave to work together to discuss andinvent new means of protection.These modern windmills are used togenerate electricity in an environmentallyfriendly manner. The thousands ofDutch windmills declined to the approximately900 mills remaining today.If you want to see windmills at theirvery best, you have to head to Kinderdijkwhere, in the mid-1700s, 19 mills in fourdistinct styles, were built to power a50 SPRING 09 | APR–JUN