Business
Nov 11, 2010
The Dutch economy is open and internationally oriented. For centuries, international trade has been a key element of the Dutch economic system. Located in the delta where several major European rivers flow into the North Sea, Holland was ideally situated to become a centre of trade and transport for all of western Europe. The 17th century was the Golden Age of Dutch history, which is not surprising if you realize that Dutch ships carried 90% of all the goods in the Europe.
Today, international trade is still the main engine of economic growth in Holland. In fact, Holland is the 15th largest economy in the world and one of the world’s ten leading exporting nations. Holland’s most important trading partners are its neighbours Germany, Belgium, the UK and France. In 2007, Holland was the EU’s third largest exporting country after Germany and France.
Rotterdam has the largest and most modern port in Europe and was, until it was overtaken by shanghai in 2004, the largest in the world. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is one of Europe’s major airports, with almost 48 million passengers in 2007.
The Dutch economy is particularly strong in sectors as the service industry, food and products, flowers and the creative sector.
