The state visit will affirm the positive historical relationship between the Netherlands and Cabo Verde and will offer the two countries an opportunity to further broaden and deepen their cooperation, in the fields of security and the maritime economy in particular. Cabo Verde is an important partner in fighting organised crime. For many years the Netherlands has had a flourishing and active Cabo Verdean community. The islands are also a popular tourist destination for Dutch holiday-makers.
State visit by the President of Cabo Verde
The President of the Republic of Cabo Verde, Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca, will be paying a state visit to the Netherlands on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 December 2018 at the invitation of His Majesty the King. He will be accompanied by his wife, Lígia Dias Fonseca.
Monday 10 December
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will officially welcome President Fonseca and his wife on Dam Square in Amsterdam. After the inspection of the guard of honour, a reception will take place in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam for the Dutch and Cabo Verdean officials taking part in the visit. After the reception President Fonseca will lay a wreath at the National Monument on Dam Square.
Following the wreath-laying ceremony, President Fonseca and his wife will visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. They will be given a tour by the museum’s director, Axel Rüger, and Willem van Gogh, the great-grandson of the artist’s brother Theo van Gogh. In the afternoon the President will visit the University of Amsterdam, where he will give a lecture for international and Dutch students on economic development in Cabo Verde. At the end of the afternoon, President Fonseca and the King will attend a Blue Economy roundtable meeting at the National Maritime Museum, at which the Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Sigrid Kaag will give a speech. The event will allow Dutch and Cabo Verdean knowledge institutes and businesses to get to know each other and exchange ideas on maritime development, wind energy and sustainable tourism.
The first day of the state visit will conclude with a state banquet at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.
Tuesday 11 December
The second day of the state visit will begin with a meeting of president Fonseca with the President of the Senate of the States General and the President of the House of Representatives of the States General. He will then visit the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, after which the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, will receive President Fonseca at the Binnenhof. Mr Rutte will then host a government lunch for the President and Mrs Fonseca, where they will discuss the development issues and climate change impacts facing small island states.
Later in the afternoon President Fonseca will visit the World Port Center in Rotterdam. The President will see some examples of the crime-fighting partnership between the Dutch and Cabo Verdean police. He will also meet Dutch police officers with Cabo Verdean roots and visit the emergency services control centre. The President and the King will then meet with representatives of various Cabo Verdean organisations in Rotterdam’s Sparta stadium. They will attend a football clinic, before meeting members of the first generation of Cabo Verdeans to come to the Netherlands and a group of Cabo Verdean entrepreneurs. Rotterdam has the largest Cabo Verdean community in the Netherlands, numbering more than 20,000.
In the evening, President Fonseca will host a concert by well-known Cabo Verdean musicians at the Cruiseterminal in Rotterdam. Following the concert, the King and Queen will take leave of the President and his wife.