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April 2015
No 19
Newsletter No. 19
THE AMBASSADOR OF COLOMBIA TO THE
KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS, JUAN JOSÉ
Q U I N TA N A , P R E S E N T E D T H E L E T T E R O F
CREDENCE TO H.M. THE KING WILLEM-ALEXANDER
On 22 April 2015, the new
Ambassador of Colombia to the
Kingdom of the Netherlands, Juan
José Quintana, presented the Letter of
Credence to His Majesty the King
Willem-Alexander.
In accordance with traditional Dutch
protocol, Ambassador Quintana was
taken to the Noordeinde Palace by
royal carriage and received with
honors by the Royal Guard.
Following their rendering of the
Colombian national anthem, the
http://www.colombia.travel/en
Ambassador greeted the military
formation and entered the Palace,
where he was received by H.M. the
King Willem-Alexander.
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In a cordial environment, H.M. the
King Willem-Alexander and
Ambassador Quintana had a
conversation about the main subjects
of the bilateral agenda. The
Ambassador took advantage of this
opportunity to reiterate the interest of
the Government of President Juan
Manuel Santos in continuing to
strengthen the friendly and
cooperative relations between
Colombia and the Netherlands.
Ambassador Quintana was
accompanied by his wife, Mrs. María
del Rosario Navia Díaz, as well as by
four diplomatic officers from the
Embassy and the Consulate of
Colombia in Amsterdam.
Newsletter No. 19
KLM RETURNS TO COLOMBIA
On 28 March at 11:30 a.m., KLM’s
Boeing 777-200 took off from Schiphol
Airport in the Netherlands towards El
Dorado Airport in Bogotá, Colombia.
The President and CEO of KLM, Pieter
Elbers, and the Minister
Plenipotentiary of the Embassy of
Colombia to The Netherlands, Álvaro
Gutiérrez Botero, together with
thirteen journalists from nine
European countries, composed the
group of participants on board the
inaugural flight KL754.
After the arrival of the KLM flight, a
ceremony took place at El Dorado
Airport with Government officials,
including the Colombian Deputy
Minister for Tourism, Sandra Howard,
and the Vice-president of Tourism
Promotion of Procolombia, Enrique
Stellabatt.
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the participants attended different
business and cultural activities,
evidencing the actively growing
bilateral relations among both
countries.
The direct flight following the route
Amsterdam-Bogotá-Cali operates on
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
For further information see:
http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/
nacional/aerolinea-klm-vuelve-volarcolombia-despues-de-20-anosarticulo-552406
http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/cali/
noticias/klm-ya-aterrizo-suelo-caleno
http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/
AMSTERDAM/article/detail/
3932250/2015/03/28/KLM-blijft-ondanksbezuinigingsoperatie-bestemmingentoevoegen.dhtml
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Newsletter No. 19
OUTSTANDING PARTICIPATION OF COLOMBIA IN
THE GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON CYBERSPACE
(GCCS 2015)
The Kingdom of the Netherlands hosted
the Fourth Global Conference on
Cyberspace (GCCS 2015), which took
place in The Hague from 16 to 17 April
2015. The Deputy Minister of Technology
and Information Systems of Colombia,
María Isabel Mejía Jaramillo, attended
this event. The National Police of
Colombia was also represented in the
event by Lt. Col. Fredy Bautista García,
Chief of the Colombian Police’s Cyber
Center, and Lt. Col. Carlos Alfredo Currea
Barrera, Head of the AMERIPOL Unit. The
Embassy of Colombia was part of the
delegation and provided support to the
Colombian participants throughout the
event.
Deputy Minister Mejía was invited to
participate in the panel of experts during
the session Exploring the best (and most
fun) tools in cyber security education,
where she had the opportunity to present
her project enTICConfio - Cyber Security
Children awareness Sesame Street
"Monstruos en Red". For their part, Cols.
Currea Barrera and Bautista García
participated in the panel of experts
during the session Cybercrime - Improving
international cooperation.
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Representatives from governments,
private sector, as well as civil society and
academia from many different countries,
gathered to address issues such as
capacity building in cybersecurity and
possible ways of regulating responsible
use of cyberspace, among others. During
the closing ceremony, Mexico was
announced as the host of the next Global
Conference on Cyberspace, to be held
in 2017.
Newsletter No. 19
LUNCH BETWEEN GRULAC AND THE
DIRECTOR OF THE WESTERN HERMISPHERE
D E PA R T M E N T O F T H E M I N I S T RY O F
FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE NETHERLANDS
On 24 April 2015, the Latin
American and Caribbean Group
– GRULAC – met in a working
lunch with the Director of the
Western Hemisphere Department
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Fuente: PUM Holanda.
the Netherlands, Maryem van
den Heuvel. The Ambassador of
Fuente: PUM.
Colombia to the Netherlands,
Juan José Quintana, was among
the attendees at the event during which the recent Summit of the Americas held in
Panama, in which the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, participated as observer,
was discussed.
CYCLING: THE CHEAPER, HEALTHIER
AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLIER
WAY OF TRANSPORTATION
bicycles as an alternative transport to
transform cities worldwide.
The fourth edition of the World
Bicycle Forum took place in Medellin
between 26 February and 1st March,
with the presence of 6.495 attendees
from 39 countries and 75 Colombian
During the forum, the challenges and
opportunities of urban cycling,
considered an important factor for the
http://www.cbi.eu/About
productivity, competitiveness
and
%2520CBI/subweb/integratedquality of life of
city inhabitants, were
country-programme-colombia-/
discussed.
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Although Colombia is interested in
cycling, there are still gaps in the
coordination between civil society, the
private and public sectors, as well the
need for a boost from local
governments. In this sense, four aspects
April 2015
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Newsletter No. 19
should be taken into consideration in
order to promote massive bicycle use in
cities: infrastructure, civil society
participation, policy and regulatory
aspects, as well as operational aspects.
On 20 April 2015 the Dutch Enterprise
Agency (RVO), administered by the
Ministry of Economic Affairs of the
Netherlands, presented the results of a
research it conducted on this sector in
Colombia, identifying opportunities for
collaboration, and transfer of
knowledge and technology between
both countries in this area.
MEASUREMENT OF RURAL PROPERTY VIA MOBILE PHONE:
DO-IT-YOURSELF!
The Kadaster office and the IT
Department of the University of Twente,
both from the Netherlands, conducted
research on the study carried out by
Popayán’s Secretariat of Agriculture’s
regional office on its For malizing
Programme. The study concerns data
collection and analysis methods in the
countryside. Once the research was
finished, the abovementioned entities
held a meeting in Bogota in order to
discuss the measurements’ accuracy
level.
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In fact, one of the biggest challenges of
Colombia’s rural areas is formalizing title
to rural properties and the accuracy of
territorial information already gathered.
These are essential conditions in order to
develop economic activities in the rural
areas of Colombia and create a
favourable investment climate for
companies and entrepreneurs.
In May, the Kadaster office will explore
an expedient and inexpensive method
to measure the boundaries of parcels of
rural properties with “sufficient” precision
for these purposes. The method will be
available in a mobile application and
landowners will be able to make the
delimitation of their property by
themselves. These data will also be
combined with aerial photographs and
the evaluation of the results will be
presented at the end of this year.
Newsletter No. 19
Moreover, a cooperation agreement
on land management was signed
between several Colombian and Dutch
institutions: On the Colombian side, the
national Geographical Institute Agustin
Codazzi (IGAC), the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development
(MARD), and the Office of Civil
Registration (SNR); and on the Dutch
side, the Agency of Cadastre, Land
Registry, and Mapping (Kadaster) and
the University of Twente. The parties
agreed to collaborate on the project
"Rural Property Formalization: Update of
techniques for multipurpose cadastre".
This project is funded by the Dutch
Enterprise Agency (RVO).
Newsletter No. 19
EVENTS
Under the Promotion Plan of Colombia Abroad of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Colombia will join
the Netherlands tour of the Dutch trumpeter, Maite
Hontelé, who’s residence is in Medellin. Her first concert will
be on the 4th of June at Paard van Troje in The Hague. The
recognized trumpeter of “Salsa Dura” was nominated on
2014 in the category of Best Salsa Album with her single
“Déjame Así” for the Latin Grammy’s Award.
http://www.cbi.u/About%2520CBI/subweb/
integrated-country-programme-colombia-/
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The Tall Training Ship of the Colombian
Navy, ARC “GLORIA”, will participate in
the ninth edition at one of the most
attractive sailing events of the world,
SAIL AMSTERDAM, from the 19th to the
23rd of August 2015.
More information:
https://www.sail.nl/en-2015/shipssail-2015/participatingtallships/arcgloria?lpg=5963
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