OUDTSHOORN – The Dutch Ambassador who visited Oudtshoorn during the recent annual Absa Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) is impressed with the progress made on projects attached to the twinning relationship between Oudtshoorn and the Dutch city of Alphen aan den Rijn.
The Ambassador, Mr. Andre Haspels was welcomed by the Executive Mayor of the Greater Oudtshoorn, Aldm. Gordon April at a special meeting held on Friday, 05 April 2013, to share successes and current projects linked to the twinning relationship. Also present at this meeting was Mr. Koos van Arkel, the chairpeson of the Stichting Platform Stedenband Oudtshoorn, the community part of the twinning relationship. Van Arkel gave a brief history of the origin of the twinning relationship between the two towns and mentioned that there is an area of the Alphen aan den Rijn called Oudshoorn.
The Manager: Strategic Services also responsible for international relations, Mr Lluwellyn Coetzee highlighted a number of successes the two municipalities have achieved. In his overview of completed projects on HIV/Aids and Social Housing, Mr. Coetzee highlighted the implementation of HIV/Aids awareness programme, establishment of a skills development Centre, the Centre of Hope and successful securing of funding for the Social Housing project, the first to be implemented in the Western Cape out of the Cape Metro.
“The presentation of the progress made in Oudtshoorn was good and informative, it was also interesting to listen to the historical background of the twinning relationship between Oudtshoorn and Alphen aan den Rijn,” said Mr. Haspels.
“There are a lot of good things happening in this partnership and I’m happy to hear that,” he said. Mr. Haspels specifically referred to the Social Housing project and student exchange programmes as innovative.
Mr. Coetzee also told the meeting that the municipality is currently working on a possible venture in trade and investment opportunities between the two towns’ business sector. “Promotion of Agro-processing investment opportunities is among the current projects we are working on,” he said.
Responding on the possibility of trade and investment opportunities between Oudtshoorn and Alphen aan den Rijn, the Ambassador said: “There might be a smaller portion of finance to fund mission match-making also involving other Dutch and South Africa twinning relationships. There may also be a possibility to fund market studies to identify needs especially on programmes concerning our focus areas such as Transport & Logistics, Water, Sustainable Energy and Agriculture & Horticulture.
