Dutch State Visit to Canada, Day 2

Thursday May 28, second day of the state visit, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima went to Waterloo, a city in Southern Ontario.

In the morning, the Royal Couple visited the University of Waterloo where at the presence of the Dutch the Ministries of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders and the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker, were awarded scholarships.  To mark the seventy years of liberation, The Netherlands established the Liberation Scholarship, an opportunity for seventy Canadian students to study at a Dutch University for 3 to 12 months betweeen 2015-2017.

Later the King and the Queen visited the “Mike & Ophelia lazaridis Quantum-Nano Center”, a research and development laboratory for quantum information science and nanotechnology. At the University were also signed multiple agreements on research and academic exchanges.

Then the King and the Queen went to the community of Beamsville to visit the industry CosMic Plants that produces orchids. The owners are Dutch descendents. The Royal Couple made a tour of the greenhouse and met agricultural entrepreneurs.

Back in Ottawa, the Royal Couple attended the closing meeting #DiploHack Challenge about how social media, big data and the Internet have changed the world. The meeting was organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the SecDev Foundation (Canada), the Canadian International Council and in partnership with Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. At the end of the meeting were awarded the best ideas in the field of new technology.

In the evening King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima hosted a concert at the Museum of History to thank the Governor General David Johnston and his wife Sharon for their hospitality during the State Visit. The concert was a combination of music with the jazz trumpeter Eric Vloeimans, the harpist Gwyneth Wentink and other musicians.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Agriculture, Bilateral Relations, Canada, Education, Governor-General Johnston of Canada, King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, State Visit.