President Gül receives Dutch honor medal

AMSTERDAM

President Gül (C) receives Dutch Medal of Honor from the Queen Beatrix (R) of Netherlands. Ministers Egemen Bağış and Mehdi Eker also participated in the ceremony. AA Photo

Turkish President Abdullah Gül was awarded the Dutch Medal of Honor, the highest honorary medal of the country, from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands yesterday. Gül began his visit to Amsterdam by laying a wreath at the Dutch national monument in downtown.

Queen Beatrix welcomed Gül and First Lady of Turkey Hayrünnisa Gül with a formal ceremony at Dam Square yesterday. Queen Beatrix hosted a luncheon in honor of Gül in Amsterdam. Following the ceremony, Queen Beatrix hosted a reception which was closed to the press. Gül also met with executives of Turkish and Dutch companies while in Amsterdam. The Netherlands have more than 16 billion dollars of investments in Turkey, Gül said, adding that the trade volume between Turkey and the Netherlands was over seven billion dollars. Later in the day, President Gül would attend the inauguration of the “Amsterdam-Istanbul: Levantine Chamber of Trade” exhibition and meet the CEOs of several Dutch companies. Gül was scheduled to address businesspeople at the Dutch-Turkish Business Forum. Queen Beatrix was to host a dinner in honor of President Gül and his wife. Gül’s three-day-visit is the highlight of celebrations to mark 400 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.