Johannesburg, 18 Aug 2001
As a result of increased interest in each other`s business communities, the flow of business between South Africa and the Netherlands is increasing, so much so that one of South Africa`s leading professional services firms has announced the establishment of a permanent desk to deal with Dutch enquiries to South Africa and enquiries to the Netherlands from South African based firms.
Comments Fieta Slendebroek, the Deloitte &Touche partner whose initiative has provided the link between SA and the Netherlands, "Following several trade delegations from the Netherlands last year, and visits by various Dutch ministers in the period, interest in South Africa from Europe is clearly on the rise, and none more so than from the Netherlands.
"From my regular visits to South Africa from the Deloitte & Touche office in the Netherlands over the years, I have noticed the potential for a permanent desk in South Africa as there was clearly enough business and national interest from both countries to justify it.
"People in the Netherlands have also welcomed the news of Carl Niehaus joining Deloitte & Touche, and he has communicated to me his keenness to become closely involved with the Dutch desk."
The month of October will see a number of delegations to South Africa. A horticultural mission will happen at the beginning of the month, with the Minister of Agriculture arriving in the middle of October. It is also expected that a number of Dutch companies will attend SACOB`s Business Week from the 13th - 17th October.
The types of services that organisations are in need of range from international tax advice - as the two countries have very different taxation systems - to corporate finance and a host of professional services that Deloitte`s is able to provide organisations in the Netherlands, and across the globe.
Slendebroek singles out some examples, "South African companies like to use Dutch holding companies when doing business in Europe as there are tax advantages to doing this. Also Dutch people are predominantly fluent in English and a few other languages apart from their own and therefore tend to be a hub for co-ordinating their other European operations."
Multi-lingualism means that the Netherlands is an ideal location for call centres in Europe, as well as forming a logistics base. Also, a company wishing to have warehouses throughout Europe should logically base their administration offices in the Netherlands as there is a well developed service industry in the country, maintains Slendebroek.
From the Netherlands side, the interest in South Africa is no less keen. Slendebroek says that Dutch banks are especially interested in building networks with South African firms, and are looking at financing projects.
Interestingly, the Dutch port of Rotterdam has one of the highest turnovers in the world. The city-port of Amsterdam sent its own delegates to meet with South African firms in April this year, and was co-hosted by Deloitte & Touche when they arrived.
"It is clear that Dutch national interest in South Africa is being backed up by so many trade delegations in recent months," says Slendebroek, "and Deloitte & Touche is motivated to stimulate this exchange to the advantage of both economies as far as possible."