Flanders and the Netherlands talk health care and cross-border ports
A Dutch state secretary visited Flanders to discuss various cross-border co-operations, including in health-care education and port labour
Next-door neighbours
Together with Axel Buys of the Flemish department of foreign affairs, Knops headed to Ghent University to discuss cross-border collaborations in health care. They discussed bottleneck jobs in the sector, the recognition of each other’s educational degrees and medical qualifications in general.
Just over the border in Terneuzen, the pair met with authorities at the Grensinfopunt (Border Information Point), where those working in one country while living in the other or who are doing business in both countries can go for information on taxes, labour laws and other concerns.
In Terneuzen, they also discussed the North Sea Port, the 60-kilometer harbour area that encompasses Vlissingen in Zeeland and Ghent in East Flanders.
Flanders has many inter-regional agreements with the Netherlands, as well as Germany. Flemish ministers have embarked on several co-operation agreements with the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia, for instance, including labour market integration, energy and transport.
Photo, from left: Dutch state secretary Raymond Knops and Flanders’ representative to the Netherlands Axel Buys
©FDFA
