News

Orientation training for potential agricultural attachés
17 May 2021 - 09:53
Source: Clingendael

At the end of last month, the closing of the orientation training for agricultural attachés was celebrated. Taking place entirely online, this programme served to make civil servants of the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency familiar with the work of agricultural attachés, to either prepare them for the real work, or to find out if the position of agricultural attaché would be suitable for them.

The training provided the participants with the knowledge and tools to represent Dutch agricultural interests abroad from multiple angles. In doing so:

  • Participants were familiarized with the work of agricultural attachés at embassies and multilateral organizations by those directly involved in policy making;
  • Participants were trained in practical skills such as intercultural communication and international negotiation;
  • Participants were given the possibility to expand their network of like-minded colleagues and experts, in order to exchange views and build working relationships.

The training took place over a period of three weeks and was concluded with a simulation. As part of the simulation, participants were placed at the Netherlands embassies of the Ukraine and Indonesia as agricultural attachés and asked to conduct meetings with Dutch companies interested in investing abroad.

Clingendael


The goal of this session was to make participants familiar with the various needs of Dutch companies but also to be aware of expectation management, the importance of structured conversations, and how important local networks are. The simulation was guided by our inhouse experts and experienced former agricultural attachés. 

We look back at a very successful training programme in which the participants not only had the opportunity to broaden their knowledge, but in turn also share their experiences with the experts and each other.