The Netherlands Needs the Difficult Iraqi Market

Erbil, Kurdistan Region - Limitations because of the security situation have had a big impact on his year in Baghdad, says departing ambassador of the Netherlands in Iraq Harry Molenaar. Later this month he is leaving his post in the Iraqi capital.

Molenaar, 61, lived at the secured embassy of the Netherlands in the former Green Zone, and could only travel with a security escort. Yet one of his main tasks was to improve the political relations and invite and stimulate Dutch businesses to Iraq.

The Netherlands has recently declared Iraq a so called “focus” country, offering financial support and advice for businesses that want to work in the country. Molenaar agrees that this seems odd, for a country that is mainly known in the West for its continuing violence. Even the official travel advice from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs discourages “inessential travel” to Iraq.

“The story is not one-sided,” Molenaar is eager to explain. “We have hundreds of Dutch businessmen who already work in Iraq, and big companies like Philips Medical, Boskalis and Shell. Even a company that sells Dutch flowers to the different ministries in Baghdad and entrepreneurs in Najaf. They consider doing business there a calculated risk.”

The embassy offers its own security managers to inform businessmen about the security situation in the different Iraqi regions, and the measures needed to work there safely. “Businessmen have to be well prepared, and in some areas they might need their own guards. If we think the area is too problematic, and we would not be able to go in and help, we may advise them not to go. But of course, we never prohibit anyone from going. But we ask everyone to register with the embassy, so at least we know where they are.”

As the Netherlands is suffering from recession, trade with the outside world is more important than ever, Molenaar stresses. “We need the difficult Iraqi market.” For that reason, the Dutch embassy opened a liaison office in the Kurdistan capital, Erbil. The ambassador lists this as one of his “biggest successes.”

Head of the office Jeroen Kelderhuis offers advice and contact, and accompanies businessmen and investors to ministers and other dignitaries in Iraqi Kurdistan. One of his activities is also to help Dutch entrepreneurs find the right partners in Kurdistan. Because of the success of Erbil, the Dutch authorities are considering opening an honorary consulate in the southern Iraqi oil town of Basra.

Where Kelderhuis can move around freely in Iraqi Kurdistan, Molenaar could not in Baghdad. When a Dutch Iraqi football coach was molested in Karbala last month, and the family asked the embassy for help to move him to a hospital abroad, he could therefore only offer diplomatic aid. Molenaar’s interference did result in a letter of apology from the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to the family, but the coach died of his head injuries in the badly-equipped hospital in Karbala.

Molenaar is adamant that the bad safety situation should not interfere too much with the work of an ambassador, and that is also his advice to his successor, Jeannet Seppen, who takes over on August 1.  He points out that he was able to improve the embassy’s network of political contacts in Iraq, and to introduce a number of Dutch (vice-) ministers to the Iraqi and Kurdistan governments. He is also proud to mention that the Dutch national Court of Auditors helped its Iraqi colleagues to modernise, and the Dutch National Bank advised the Iraqi one on how to make sound investments.

A strong link between the Netherlands and Iraq is formed by the 52.000 Iraqis and Iraqi-Kurds in the Netherlands. Yet they have also added to the work load of embassy. Those who returned to Iraq ask for passport renewal, emergency documents and visa. “We do not have the staff to offer the same services as embassies elsewhere.” The only visa the embassy arranges are those for Iraqi businessmen who want to visit their partner in the Netherlands, and that service will be improved by outsourcing it.

One of Molenaar’s headaches was the file on failed asylum seekers whom the Netherlands wants to deport to Iraq. After Holland sent back around 200 people against their will, Baghdad has decided to no longer accept them. The Iraqi authorities already have thousands of returnees on their hands who need jobs and housing, and do not want the problems of those who don’t even want to be in Iraq on top of this.

Molenaar stresses that the people the Dutch want to deport have ended all their legal options. “As illegals they will become second rate citizens.” The Iraqi media have created a wrong impression, he says. “The impression here in Iraq is that we put people in tents, and that we send them back in big amounts. That is simply not true.”

Even though Dutch Minister of Migration Fred Teeven returned to Holland last week without being able to change Iraq’s decision, Molenaar remains optimistic. “We need a constructive dialogue, as this problem needs to be solved. I really hope that we will find a solution.”