News item | 28-01-2025 | 15:21
This morning the Tour ‘NATO through the Netherlands’ was officially opened. Symbolic flags were handed over to the Caspar Veldkamp of Foreign Affairs and Ruben Brekelmans of Defense, to Mayor Jan van Zanen of The Hague and to the director of the Atlantic Committee Anna van Zoest. The Tour will go to a number of Dutch cities in the coming months and will be the prelude to the NATO summit on 24 and 25 June in The Hague.
After the kick -off of the Tour in The Hague, there will be activities and events in the coming months in Alkmaar, Eindhoven, Groningen, Maastricht and Utrecht. According to the Ministries of Defense and of Foreign Affairs, an important NATO message will go into the country, because it is expected that 2025 will be an exciting year.
Freedom for young people of today?
NATO through the Netherlands means talking to students, students and the general public about peace, safety and NATO. According to Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans, there is always a reason for that. “NATO has been keeping the Netherlands safe for 76 years. Like a shield of allies around our small country. The alliance monitors international agreements and protects our freedom: freedom to be able to say what you want, not to be afraid of a larger neighbor, to determine your own future as a person and as a country. ” According to the minister, talking about NATO is now extra important. Because, “For the first time in 80 years, the question is whether we can pass on the same freedom to today’s young people.”
Brekelmans mentions it special that the Netherlands is organizing the NATO summit at this time, for the first time in the 76th anniversary of the Alliance. “It is good for our appearance in the world and it strengthens our position as a loyal ally.”
Photo-exhibition
Before the NATO summit in The Hague starts at the end of June, there is already a whole tour for the organization. This is organized by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense with the cooperation of the Atlantic Commission, Clingendael, HCSS and other organizations. The basis is a photo exhibition about the Netherlands and NATO. It could be seen for the first time today. Furthermore, ‘NATO through the Netherlands’ consists of a series of different interactive events.
Theater tour
This is how Defense is organizing a NATO Serious Gaming (Esports tournament) and there is a curriculum of the electors for high school students. Primary school children make video reports about peace and safety as ‘children’s correspondent’. Or the ‘NATO simulation game’. In this way, secondary education students experience how decision -making at NATO goes. And then there is ‘debate in the city’: the theater tour of the Atlantic Commission. This contains conversations between administrators from higher education, experts from think tanks and citizens. They talk about the themes of the NATO summit.
Today was the kick -off to go into the country. “Because the safety of all of us is,” Brekelmans emphasizes. “Together we are stronger.”
Nato Summit Industry Forum
This also applies to the defense industry. That is why Defense and VNO-NCW organize it Nato Summit Industry Forum on June 24. Then NATO and Allied leaders and representatives from the industry meet. They discuss the progress, next steps and future opportunities to strengthen the transatlantic, multi-year cooperation in the defense industry.