Home > News > The Prime Minister in Action > October 2014 > Meeting and Banquet with State Guests, Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Netherlands
Meeting and Banquet with State Guests, Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Netherlands
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Photograph of Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe meeting with the King and Queen of the Netherlands (1)
Photograph of Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe welcoming the King and Queen of the Netherlands
Photograph of Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe meeting with the King and Queen of the Netherlands (2)
Photograph of Prime Minister Abe delivering an address at the banquet hosted by the Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe (1)
Photograph of Prime Minister Abe delivering an address at the banquet hosted by the Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe (2)
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands during Their Majesties’ visit to Japan as state guests. Following this, Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe hosted a banquet.
At the banquet, the Prime Minister said in his address,
“I would like to welcome His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands during Their Majesties’ visit to Japan as state guests. I would like to once again offer my congratulations on His Majesty’s accession to the throne last year. I am very honored and privileged to welcome Their Majesties to Japan as state guests on their first visit to Asia since the accession of His Majesty.
Among the countries in Europe, it is the Netherlands with whom Japan has the longest ties. During the Edo period, Dejima Island in Nagasaki Prefecture was Japan’s window to the world and the Japanese people of the time acquired world-leading knowledge through this island. Since then, the Netherlands has always been a country that the Japanese people have considered a fond friend.
Today, we are joined by a large number of honored guests to welcome Their Majesties on behalf of Japan. These include Mr. Seishiro Eto, Chairman of the Japan-Netherlands Parliamentary Friendship League and Mr. Shigetaka Komori, President of the Japan-Netherlands Society, as well as many other political and business figures from across Japan.
Today, the Netherlands is also Japan’s largest investment partner in Europe. I sincerely hope we continue to enjoy a positive partnership, in which we both test our strengths against one another and cooperate with each other, and develop a future-oriented partnership.
One of the Netherlands’ strengths has been the country’s ability to breathe new life into agribusiness and seek out new markets around the world. I hope that next-generation agriculture utilizing advanced technologies will flourish in the disaster-affected areas of Japan.
The Netherlands is also a major sports power. This holds particularly true for speed skating where the country won 24 medals at this year’s Sochi Winter Olympics. I hope that both Japan and the Netherlands can work together for the success of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
I would like to close my speech with a slightly boastful anecdote about Japan. I hear that former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was such a big fan of Japanese food that she would order sushi catering. This evening I would like Their Majesties to partake in a sampling of Washoku, the traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, which has been added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. I would now like to raise my glass with the hope that this visit by Their Majesties will add a new chapter to the 400-year old relations between our great nations.”
