This Thursday we welcomed Mr. Filipe Nyusi, President of the Republic of Mozambique, at our ECE Campus. The purpose of this visit was to strenghten the relationship between the Netherlands and Mozambique and the intention of both governments to internationalize education. Representatives of both local governments signed a Letter of Intent concerning the EP Nuffic programme.

ECE is asked to be a knowledge partner of an Orange Corner’s initiative to establish an innovative support system for entrepreneurs in Mozambique by sustainably strengthening education. ECE will contribute to strengthen the local ecosystem by transferring our knowledge on entrepreneurship to local universities as part of the Netherlands Initiative for Capacity development in Higher Education (NICHE), a Netherlands-funded development cooperation programme.

Visit to ECE

The president was accompanied by a delegation of 30 people, amongst whom Mr Oldemiro Baloi (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation) and Mr Carlos Freitas Mesquita (Minister of Transport and Communication) of Mozambique. After an opening by prof. dr. Justin Jansen, Academic Director ECE, and Jurgen Nieuwenhuijsen, Commercial Director ECE, the Letter of Intent was signed. The ceremony was moderated by ambassador Ms Pascalle Grotenhuis, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Mozambique. Mr Guido Landheer, Deputy Director General for Foreign Economic Relations, signed the Lettor of Intent on behalf of the Dutch government. We continued the visit with a tour on the ECE Campus. The visit ended with the pitch of two life sciences and health startups located in the Rotterdam Science Tower, Omnigen and Sensara.

Visit to the Netherlands

During his stay in the Netherlands the president already visited Paleis Noordeinde on Wednesday to meet with minister Ploumen and minister Koenders. On Friday he will be welcomed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and will have lunch with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

Copyright photos: Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship