The Netherlands signed a Memorandum of Understanding (usually known as an MoU) with the province of Ontario on Wednesday November 26th, 2008.

The MoU describes that the two parties will cooperate in a number of environmental fields, such as soil remediation, water technologies etc.

As the MoU has no legal implications, it should mostly be seen as a written intention to explore mutual cooperation. It is also often known as a Letter of Intent. No amounts are usually tied to an MoU, but in general it makes it somewhat easier to get things done.

Minister Gerritsen spoke at the reception about his youth in The Netherlands, the liberation of the country by the Canadians, about the tulip donation to Canada after World War Two. He also referred to the Dutch environmental technologies, developed already in the seventies, due to the lack of available space in the country.

There was some confusion about the size of The Netherlands, but the guests settled on Ontario being 26 times The Netherlands. Ambassador Geerts had done his own calculations and told the audience that with the density of The Netherlands, the province of Alberta would have 250 million people, nearly the entire US population.

Approximately 35 guests attended the ceremony at the residence of the Consul General.

Two impressions of the signing ceremony:

Under the watchful eye of ambassador Geerts (middle) and The Honourable Minister Gerritsen (right), Consul General Kramer (left) thanks the staff of the Ministry of the Environment for all the hard work.