Rudolf Bekink, ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States, is set for a two-day visit to Atlanta June 24-25 to highlight business ties and an art exhibition that features Dutch artist Vermeer‘s famous portrait, “Girl With a Pearl Earring.”
Mr. Bekink is set to meet with Gov. Nathan Deal and Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson. He will also convene with Dutch investors and entrepreneurs to hear their concerns about maintaining the healthy cross-border business and investment ties between Georgia and the Netherlands. Dutch foreign investment in Georgia amounted to $1.9 billion in 2011.
Aside from a CEO luncheon with representatives of KLM, Vanderlande, Ddfoodsolution, Mylaps and Interface Services, Mr. Bekink is also to meet with Dutch billionaire John Fentener van Vlissingen, who has been an active investor in Atlanta for decades and maintains a home here.
The corporate travel magnate created BCD Travel, the third largest travel management company in the world, through the consolidation one of his Atlanta-based companies, WorldTravel BTI, with German and English firms in 2006. Also under BCD Holdings, its parent company, are parking service providers Park’N Fly and ParkMobile, as well as travel data and software provider TRX. All have bases inAtlanta.
The ambassador will also visit the High Museum of Art to view an exhibition of 35 Dutch works from the Mauritshuis, the Royal Dutch gallery in The Hague. The Netherlands-American Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta will arrange the tour.
The “Girl” portrait was last in the United States in 1995 and has never been displayed in Georgia before. The exhibit runs June 22-Sept. 29.
The visit is being coordinated by the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, which has an office covering the southern United States in Atlanta, the Netherlands-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast and the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Miami.
For more information on the NFIA, visit http://www.nfia.com/contact_nfia_north_america.html.
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