Minister Schultz van Haegen of Infrastructure and the Environment is in Colombia this week, leading an economic mission that includes representatives from seventeen Dutch companies and organisations, including Deltares.
Alongside the primary focus on integrated water management, there will also be opportunities to look at harbor development, inland shipping and urban development.
The Netherlands has started to work together more closely with Colombia, for example on a Coastal Protection Master Plan and a Room for the River project for the Cauca river. And in 2012, Colombia switched to the hydrological forecasting system supplied by Deltares, Delft-FEWS (Flood Early Warning).
One item on the agenda of the economic mission this week was the signing of the MoU by Deltares and the Institute for Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM).
The two institutes agreed on Tuesday, 1 September, to collaborate intensively and to share knowledge relating to flood risk management, water quality, drought and the environment. That expertise will be very useful to IDEAM for the establishment of their National Hydrometeorological Modelling Center.
In addition to extending the intensive relationship in the area of water, the mission will also put Dutch business in a better position for contracts generated by the Colombian government’s infrastructure program.