#HOTCS: Sameena Qureshi, the Hague

“The Dutch love Canadian seafood. We hear a lot about scallops, and if you go into a restaurant and you see lobster on the menu, it won’t just say lobster, it will say Canadian lobster. Canadian exporters are really going to benefit from CETA because the tariffs, which for live or frozen lobster for example used to be up to 16%, are now eliminated. 

The Netherlands is a great place for Canadian companies to start before branching into the rest of Europe. The Netherlands and Canada really have quite an excellent relationship. It’s historical, because the Canadian troops liberated Dutch cities, and it’s also commercial, because the Dutch are the second-biggest investors in Canada. English is predominantly the language of business, and the infrastructure is excellent, whether it’s ports, airports, rail, even digital infrastructure.”