On January 21 st , the Dutch Minister of Defence, Mrs Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, visited Damen Shipyards Gorinchem.
She was received by Mr Kommer Damen (Chairman of the Board, Mr Arnout Damen (COO) and Mr Hein van Ameijden (MD of Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding), who gave her a guided tour. Afterwards, they discussed the cooperation with the Dutch Coast Guard and Damen’s worldwide activities in the fields of defence, security, knowledge and innovation.
On her own website the minister states: “It is wonderful to see the innovative results to which the cooperation between industry, knowledge institutes and government can lead. This is important to Holland, to our safety and to our prosperity.”
The visit to Damen and Fokker (a Dutch aerostructures manufacturer) was initiated by FME-CWM, the association for entrepreneurs in the Dutch technology industry, which addresses the interests of some 2.500 companies.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, January 30, 2013; Image: Damen