Apologies for the slavery and colonial past, the difficult issuance of visas to Surinamese, the state pension gap and the archives from the eighties that have still not been made public. These were some of the topics that Surinamese President Chan Santokhi and Prime Minister Rutte and their advisers discussed Monday in the presidential palace in Paramaribo.
Rutte arrived in Suriname with the government plane on Monday afternoon, accompanied by eighteen Dutch companies. Minister Liesje Schreinemacher (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) was already in Suriname. She had already arrived last night after traveling with Queen Máxima in the United States.
A recurring topic during the talks and the press conference was the importance of a well-developed business community. Both Santokhi and Rutte have promised to put more energy into a better place for Suriname in the international ranking of countries where companies can easily do business.
To a question from a journalist what Rutte thought of the comment that ex-president Desi Bouterse made a few days ago that Rutte “better to fuck off”, the Dutch prime minister reacted laconically. “Politicians are simply not universally loved, you don’t always get what you want.”
Rutte will continue his visit on Tuesday with a speech in the Surinamese parliament. Later in the day he will have talks about the slavery past and reparations.