While Dutch expats are trying to leave Libya as quickly as possible, the Dutch business community is already eyeing up new opportunities.

At a special meeting in The Hague for Dutch companies operating in North Africa and the Middle East, the atmosphere is divided. One participant expresses genuine concern for staff in Libya, while another is full of optimism about the future: "We're starting a new game, with new rules."

The meeting was organised by the Netherlands Council for Trade Promotion (NCH) and was certainly not devoted to bemoaning the unrest on the other side of the Mediterranean. Dozens of entrepreneurs and experts exchanged experiences and visions behind closed doors. After all, doing business in the turbulent regional is a delicate topic at present.

Playing a positive role
But when the media were allowed in afterwards, there was little sense of a concerned crisis mood. Certainly not in the case of Salem Rabbani, chair of the Netherlands Middle East Business Council.

"We now have a specific opportunity. As Dutch, our advantage is that we have a relatively neutral role in the region, we don't have a colonial background in the region. There is also the fact that we are flexible and can exchange thoughts about issues important to us such as energy, economic development and immigration. Those are our interests but they are also the interests of the region. So we can play a very positive role there."

Friends
Gerard Vaandrager of the NCH is surprised by the positive mood of the meeting. But he too sees new opportunities created, for example, by the change of regime in Tunisia and Egypt. 

"That means we have a new situation and I think, for a businessman, it's important to be there right at the kick-off, because that's when people look around to see who their friends are."

By contrast, Gustaaf van Bilsen, whose company Linitco has for years provided technical components for oil and gas drilling in Libya, is seriously concerned.

"I have two people there with their families and children, all in Tripoli. We're hoping they can leave Libya by helicopter tomorrow morning. This has occupied the majority of my time for the past few days. The rest of the staff have been busy writing off orders, putting a halt to everything, retrieving containers and so forth. I personally have only been involved in trying to get these two families out of the country."

Pragmatism
He says he's not afraid that a new government will regard him as someone who did business with the dictator, "We dealt directly with the oil companies and in practice they are relatively far removed from the government." But van Bilsen also concedes that no one can predict how the future will turn out.

Market gardener Piet Zwinkels is enthusiastic about his flourishing radish crop in Egypt. In a typically pragmatic Dutch way, he explains how he dealt with the revolution there.

"Just keeping going really. Never say die. We just wanted to prove we could take it to the next level there, which is good for everyone. The container ships are moving again, things will be fine I think. Stay optimistic until you're in your coffin, as I always say."

(imm/ae)