The Netherlands Prime Minister Meets with Top U.S. Business Executives in California

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Some of the biggest names in Corporate America met last night with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, who visited California this week to meet with major tech companies, startup entrepreneurs and knowledge institutes in and around Silicon Valley. He was accompanied on the trip by Neelie Kroes, Special Envoy for Startup Delta, an organization that collaborates with more than 10 Dutch tech hubs to make the Netherlands the largest startup ecosystem in Europe.

As part of his visit, the Prime Minister invited top executives from the Bay area to an investment dinner, hosted by the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), which helps international companies establish and expand operations in the Netherlands. Amazon, Google, IBM, Intel, Guess, Palo Alto Networks, Dolby, Applied Materials, Netflix, NetApp, Nike, Twitter, GoPro, BioMarin and Salesforce were among more than two dozen companies represented at the gathering of American investors in the Netherlands.

With the Netherlnds and Silicon Valley both at the forefront of innovation, Prime Minister Rutte and Neelie Kroes also met with a number of other California companies with operations in the Netherlands, including Facebook, Tesla, Cisco, Apple, Uber and Planet Labs. A visit to Stanford University is planned for today to discuss further collaboration between Stanford and Dutch Universities.

The U.S. is the largest foreign investor in the Netherlands, with North American companies generating $1.6 billion in capital investment and creating 4,519 direct new jobs in the Netherlands in 2015. The 75 projects by North American companies included European headquarters, marketing and sales offices, service centers, distribution, manufacturing and R&D facilities across sectors ranging from information technology to life sciences & health.

"The Netherlands is very pro-business and is a great gateway to Europe for North American companies," said Jan-Emile van Rossum, Executive Director of NFIA North America. "We offer companies remarkable technology strengths, world-class infrastructure, a highly educated workforce that speaks English fluently, a creative mindset and supportive corporate tax structure. It's no wonder more and more companies are going Dutch."

The NFIA maintains U.S. offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, New York City and San Francisco. For more information, visit www.investinholland.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-netherlands-prime-minister-meets-with-top-us-business-executives-in-california-300213761.html

SOURCE Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency

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