REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Mari Elka Pangestu is currently on a three-day visit to the Netherlands to explore the possibilities of a joint collaboration between the two countries in the field of creative economy. She met her counterpart, Minister of Economy, Agriculture, and Innovation Maxime Verhagen.

"Besides attending the National Day at the World Horticultural Floriade in Venlo, I also met with Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch Minister of Economy, Agriculture and Innovation," Pangestu said in the ministry's statement on Saturday.

She said that the meeting was considered as valuable reccomendations for national development of creative industry. She also stressed on the importance of the meeting for the development of tourism and creative economy in Indonesia, considering that the Dutch government has distinguished the creative industry as one of its economy`s nine most prime sectors.

"We also discussed the trading program, cooperation in human resource capacity building and policies for development of creative industries, which include granting incentives and tax reductions, etc," Pangestu stated. 

She added that the talking points from the meeting will be used as inputs for developing strategies for the expansion of the tourism and creative economy of the country going forward. She also met with some of the big tour operators of Netherlands who have business links in Indonesia and said they have shown a keen interest in doing more business in Indonesia.

Pangestu said that the meeting was important as Indonesia needs to tap a greater portion of the Dutch market for continuing economic growth and bearing in mind the current economic crisis of Europe. "We must find ways to attract more tourists from the Netherlands and Europe to Indonesia," she said. 

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