Dutch exports
To the U.S.: $18.9 billion
To Georgia: $901.2 million
Though overshadowed by the Pacific trade pact sealed in Atlanta on Monday, a 125-person European delegation is also in the city this week seeking tighter commercial ties.
The four-day trade mission is led by Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, and Geert Bourgeois, minister-president of Flanders, a neighboring region of Belgium. They have been talking to Georgia businesses leaders and introducing some of their own business people.
“The United State is our most important trade partner, outside of Europe,” Bourgeois told the Journal-Constitution today. “This will go in both directions. We are looking for possibilities to invest here, but also for trade.”
The delegation has an eye toward innovation and entrepreneurialism, he said.
“We see the entrepreneurial system in Atlanta as being very strong.”
Flanders has a population of about 10 million people, with a large political movement pushing for autonomy. The Netherlands has about 17 million people and a more sizeable financial footprint.
Among Dutch companies with operation in Georgia are Akzo Nobel, Heineken and Randstad. Electronics maker Philips has its name attached to the downtown sports arena.
Rutte said Europeans can learn from American business culture – to a point.
American politicians have commonly decried Europe for its supposedly sclerotic rules, labor laws that restrict firing, regulations that tamp down innovation and a safety net that makes unemployment tolerable.
“There is some truth to that,” Rutte said. “Although we are not here to copy the American model.”
Still, he said, “The number of entrepreneurs starting businesses in Flanders and the Netherlands is much higher today than it was five years ago.”
Rules have been loosened, sometimes for unfortunate reasons, he said.
“What has helped is that we have had a crisis. There has been quite a downturn in the economy and in that phase we have changed labor laws to an extent.”
Neither European nor U.S. system is perfect, Bourgeois said.
“We need more of that entrepreneurial spirit. We do need more flexibility. We think a system that is between both would be good.”
