JULIE FISHER: Welcome everyone.
Thank you so very, very much for braving these elements
to be here with us tonight.
Please don't take this delayed start
as any indication of any less of a commitment on everyone's part
to our enthusiasm to launching the 2019 Global
Entrepreneurship Summit.
I hope what you will take away is that we are all incredibly
committed to the successful event
that our Dutch colleagues are going to host in June.
And we're all willing to brave planes, trains, and automobiles
in order to get here tonight to be with you to do this.
My name is Julie Fisher.
I am the Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for Western Europe and the European Union at the State
Department.
And it is truly a pleasure to be here with you tonight
at this launch event for the Global Entrepreneurship
Summit, which is going to be jointly hosted
by the United States and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
I really can't think of a better location for the United
States and the Netherlands to launch this effort than right
here at the beautiful national historic landmark the Alexander
Hamilton U.S. Customs House.
I think it is really interesting and it is worth
noting that this landmark was built,
and we are currently standing on roughly the same spot
as Fort Amsterdam, the original center of the settlement of New
Amsterdam, which was, of course, the 17th century
Dutch settlement in Manhattan.
So we have an exciting program for you, despite the weather.
And over the next well, I don't know, hour or so
you will hear from several of our distinguished guests
for this evening.
We are really thrilled to have the U.S. ambassador
to the Netherlands, Ambassador Pete Hoekstra with us
this evening.
I'm not sure whether--
because I'm a little bit blinded by the bright lights
here-- whether the Dutch Ambassador to the United States
Henne Schuwer has arrived yet or not.
But we are expecting him this evening.
We have the White House's-- sorry?
We have the White House Deputy Chief Technology
Officer, Michael Kratsios, who is also joining us.
We will hear from a panel on future growth industries
and transatlantic investment opportunities,
featuring a mix of Dutch and American investors
and private sector representatives.
And then finally, when this is all completed,
the reward for this hard work will be a reception upstairs
on the second floor in the tax collectors office, which
to me, does not sound like the kind of place
where you host a reception.
But people tell me it is beautiful
and it is worth the trip.
So without taking any more of your time,
I'd like to invite Investor Hoekstra to join us up here.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
PETE HOEKSTRA: Thank you Julie, and thanks to all of you
for braving the Michigan weather and coming
to join us this evening.
You know, I never thought I'd be doing this.
But I can start with a plug for the Netherlands
in saying if you want great weather, go to the Netherlands.
You know, I was born in the Netherlands.
My parents emigrated when I was three years old.
And Diane and I have traveled there in July
into the northern part where we were thrilled that when
we were staying with family, that it
was in an old house in an old bed where the mattress rolled.
You both rolled to the middle because in July it
was freezing cold.
And you got under the comforters and all those.
So we were expecting the worst.
We got there in January.
We compared the weather in January, February, and March
to what was going on in Michigan,
and just about every day it was nicer weather in the Hague
than it was in Michigan.
Beginning on April, it hasn't rained
for 9 and 1/2 months or 8 and 1/2 months, whatever
the calculation is.
And the sun shines every day.
You come to August, and it's 90 degrees.
And if you would have been in the Hague this morning
it would have been 50 degrees and blue sky and sunshine.
So it makes a lot of sense to host this Global
Entrepreneurial Summit in the Netherlands, which is now
a garden spot and a travel destination because
of the wonderful weather that the Netherlands now
experiences.
My Dutch colleagues, you can go home and tell them
what we've now stretched the tourist venue and the reasons
to travel to the Netherlands.
The GES, how did how did we get started?
I arrived in the Netherlands in January.
And we'd heard about GES, and it got on our radar screen.
And we started talking to the Dutch government.
And they said yeah, we'd be interested in GES.
What is it?
And we explained it to them.
We started talking to Dutch businesses
as I traveled around the country.
And they said that sounds exactly
like our profile of who we want to be.
And so we started developing a profile for the Netherlands
that many of us understand.
This is a country that is a trading country.
This is an entrepreneurial country.
They are innovators.
Any country that is roughly--
it's roughly twice the size of my congressional district
in Michigan.
So it's just a chunk of Michigan.
But a country that is twice the size
as my congressional district is the second largest food
exporter in the world.
And it's kind of like, how do they do that?
They're the third or fourth largest
investor in the United States.
We wanted to send a very positive message
to our colleagues in the EU and in Europe
about how important this trading relationship is for us.
And so when Mark wrote to the prime minister
in the Netherlands, had the opportunity
to visit with the president in July, one of the things
that they talked about was the reciprocal trade investment
between the two countries.
Dutch investment in the United States results in about 820,000
direct American jobs.
And so the conclusion was we've got a great trade relationship.
We actually have a $24 billion trade surplus
with the Netherlands.
So you put that all together, and the president
and the prime minister talked about GES.
And shortly after that, the invitation
the acceptance were all completed.
And we now find ourselves looking
at June 4 and 5 of next year as being
the Global Entrepreneurial Summit in the Hague.
It's going to I think, be a great testament
to a friendship that has endured for over 400 years.
Over 400 years ago Henry Hudson sailed into this harbor
and began the relationship of New York or New Amsterdam
and what then became the United States of America.
And in a few years, we will have the 250th anniversary
of St. Eustatius, an island in the Caribbean
being the first country the Netherlands,
through Saint Eustatius being the first country
to recognize the flag of the United States
by firing a 13 cannon salute.
The first and only time that you could
say that the Dutch engaged in the United States militarily,
but it was a sign of friendship and not hostility.
Think about it.
400 years, and we've never fired a shot at each other in anger.
GES, it's all about entrepreneurship.
It is all about innovation.
It's about free markets.
It's recognizing something that the United
States and the Netherlands very much share.
We appreciate, we value, our citizens, our business people,
our men and women, who are willing to innovate,
who are willing to take the risk of innovation
to try to launch new products, to launch new ideas.
And what we've so frequently find
is these are people with big ideas that solve big problems
and create huge opportunities for their communities
and for the citizens within their own countries.
GES, this will be the ninth-- for the other nine
has become a symbol of recognizing and celebrating
innovation, markets, investment because we
recognize these are the things that make a difference.
These are the things that America embraces.
These are the things that the Dutch embrace.
These are the things that set us apart.
We believe that markets, competition, and opportunity,
lead to the results that we see in Europe, the results that we
see in the Netherlands, and the results that we see in America
today, growing economies.
GES will bring together 1,200 entrepreneurs, investors
to talk about the ideas that they have
and the changes that they want to bring forward
in the areas of agriculture, in the areas of water,
of finance, finance being available for entrepreneurs,
health care, connectivity.
So expect the Hague to be the center
of this dialogue in 2019.
We're going to be starting the process today, December 17.
It's interesting.
Entrepreneurs, not only do they have
to compete against other ideas, not only
do you have to compete for financing and saying we
are the best opportunity for you as an investor,
for you, for where you should place your money,
they also have to compete to get an invitation
to come to the GES program.
So beginning on December 17, they
can sort of start submitting applications
to be recognized as having ideas, products, and services
that are warranted to be highlighted and focused
in a global summit.
Our team will be headed by Secretary Pompeo.
I'm sure that U.S. government involvement will increase over
the coming months.
But he's already committed to be there for the kickoff.
There are lots of reasons why government officials should
be there.
It's also a time where there'll be a number of government
officials in Europe already.
We are going to be there.
The Global Entrepreneurial summit
will occur a couple of days before we celebrate
and commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
So lots of things going on in Europe.
It's a great place for you to visit.
Please encourage your contacts, the folks
that you know in the investment community, the folks
that you know and the entrepreneurial community.
Let them take a look and explore the possibilities
and the potential that the Entrepreneurial Summit brings
to them.
I think I took some of Henne's time.
I probably took a lot of his comments.
But he and I are great friends, and we look forward
to working together.
And we look forward to working with you
to make this a great success.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]