Roundup: China Southern Airlines, Huawei win Dutch gov't award

The Dutch government gave an award to the branches of China Southern Airlines and Huawei on Friday to honor their contributions to cooperation between China and the Netherlands as well as their good practices of social responsibility.

Jeroen Nijland, Commissioner with the the Dutch National Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), gave the "Foreign Direct Investment Ambassador" award to Pang Yedong and Wonder Wang, respectively heads of the two Chinese companies in The Netherlands at a Sino-Dutch Economic Seminar.

China Southern Airlines "literally contributed greatly to the connectivity of people and businesses between China and the Netherlands," said Nijland, adding "And the company has also been involved in organizing many events that demonstrate its cooperate social responsibility."

Receiving the award signed by Henk Kamp, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Pang, the airlines' head in Amsterdam, said his company will continue to do more and better.

"The Netherlands is China Southern's gateway for Europe. In 1996, we chose the Netherlands to be our first intercontinental destination. In 20 years, our flights departing from Amsterdam increased from 2 to 22 per week. The development has gone very fast," he said.

As to Huawei, the NFIA commissioner hailed that the leading ICT solutions provider is not only doing business but also "strengthening the knowledge structure in The Netherlands".

"Huawei is acting in a responsible way, contributing to the Dutch society in terms of training, sports and culture sponsorship, etc," said the NFIA commissioner.

Wonder Wang, CEO of Huawei Netherlands, promised that his company will "contribute more value to our customers and the local society."

Huawei is committed to promote ICT education and training among the youth worldwide, Wang told Xinhua. In the Netherlands, Huawei will bring at least 100 Dutch students to China for ICT training within the next five years within the framework of its "Seeds for the Future" program.

The Chinese ICT giant started its operations in the Netherlands in 2005. Now it employs 650 employees and holds a strong position in the Dutch market, connecting more than 10 million people. It has signed Smart City Memorandum of Understandings (MoU's) with five Dutch cities, namely Amsterdam, The Hague, Tilburg, Groningen and Amstelveen.

The annual Sino-Dutch economic seminar was organized by the Association of Chinese Investment Enterprises in the Netherlands (ACIEN) and the NFIA.

Themed on cooperate social responsibility this year, the seminar was held at the headquarters of VNO-NCW, the largest employers' organisation in the Netherlands. More than 100 business elites and politicians, including Chinese Ambassador to The Netherlands Chen Xu and former Dutch deputy prime minister Maxime Verhagen, attended the seminar.

Chairwoman of the ACIEN Li Minyan listed a number of good practices by the Chinese companies in their host country, from the solar energy plant donated by Hanergy to Haarlemmeer in Schiphol area, to substantial discount for Dutch doctors' missions for cleft lip children in their international trips provided by China Southern Airlines.

"The more we globalise and localize our companies, the more responsible we feel towards the world and our hosting countries," she concluded, urging members of her association to make more efforts in this regard. Endit