Relying on their country’s reputation and expertise in the field of sports, a high-level delegation led by the former international football player Ronald de Boer from the Netherlands will visit Qatar from March 25-28, it was announced yesterday.The delegation, comprising two separate groups of businessmen and sports experts, will be introducing the Dutch companies and their expertise to Qatari officials in charge of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 2020 Olympic Bid Committee as well as the developers of several ongoing infrastructural projects in the country.In all, a total of 17 companies will be represented by the delegation, which is coming to explore collaboration opportunities in Qatar.In the Gulf region, Dutch technologies have a proven track record in various sectors that can contribute to Qatar’s efforts in making the 2022 FIFA World Cup an exceptional event.Notable members of the delegation will be Dutch Football Association Secretary General Harry Ben and Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation’s Marten van den Berg.Announcing the delegation’s visit yesterday, the Netherlands ambassador to Qatar, John Groffen, said that because the Netherlands had an excellent reputation in the field of sports, it would, through the delegation, try to partner with Qatar as a consultant around sports and events supporting the upcoming projects.“We are very much impressed by the enormous growth in Qatar and the country’s economy is very interesting to the Dutch because of its very diverse activities,” he added.He said that the Netherlands and Qatar had a very strong relationship. “The close co-operation between the two still needs to be broadened further, with our attention being focused on Qatar’s growing role in the international political field.” According to the diplomat, Dutch know-how will act as an important factor to the fulfilment of the Qatari’s aspirations.“I am looking forward to seeing how we can match Qatari ambitions with Dutch expertise and how we can marry the Qatari can-do spirit to Dutch technology and know-how by linking up organisations and enterprises from both sides,” he said.For last year, he said, the trade volume between the two countries reached $1.1bn.Groffen mentioned that plans were in the pipeline to develop a master’s degree for financial managers in collaboration with Shell and Qatar Petroleum and as part of an overall aim of opening more channels of opportunities in the field of education, architecture and healthcare.The umbrella organisation - FME-CWM - in collaboration with the Netherlands embassy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and supported by ABN AMRO, Orange Sports Forum and the KNVB, is organising the trade mission to Doha.