Excellencies, ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honour
and pleasure to welcome you to this show of Dutch flowers.
In particular I like to welcome Her Excellency the Minister
of State for Tourism, Mrs Sumaira Malik, who recently
visited the Netherlands with President Musharraf. I
also like to welcome in particular Mr Afaq Tiwana, the
Chairman of the Horticulture Board of Pakistan.
I have handed my credentials to President
Musharraf as ambassador to Pakistan. But as you know,
the true ambassadors of the Netherlands are the Dutch
flowers, and in particular the famous tulips. Therefore
we have decided to let the flowers speak for themselves.
They are there, planted in the borders of our garden,
and, in my humble opinion, quite eloquent.
Throughout the ages flowers have been
the subject of poetry. Flowers mean love. And love means
flowers. This is an international language understood
by all and sundry. No one has expressed this more eloquently
than the great Islamic poet Jalal ud-Din Rumi. Please
allow me to quote from a poem by Rumi on the subject
of the tulip
First in Persian, a language sufficiently
close to Urdu to be understood by Pakistani's:
Bahar
Amad Bahar Amad Khush Azar Amad
Khush-o Sarsabz Shad-o Alam Awan-e laleh Zar Amad
Spring is nigh, spring is nigh
Beautiful spring has come by
The whole world is green and fresh Tulips raise their
heads up high.
IFlowers try to understand
How they were estranged in this land One claims to be
joyously pleased
From that land joys have come, why?
Narcissus conveyed with a wink
How thus smile and drink Flower said, yes I do laugh
My beloved is nearby.
Nowadays the tulip is
seen as a typical flower of the Netherlands. But originally
this bulbous plant came from Turkey, Persia and Afghanistan,
where it grew in the wild. The Great Mogul emperor Babar
was an expert who counted 33 different kinds of tulips.
According to legend; the first tulips sprang up from
the drops of blood shed by a lover. In this way the
tulip became the symbol of love.
Tulips were first imported
in Europe from Turkey. Four hundred years ago people
in the Netherlands went literally crazy about tulips.
People sold everything to buy tulips. Then came the
crash -like an overvalued stock exchange - and many
went bankrupt. A special word was coined and it became
known in history as "tulip-mania" to express
the frenzy that seized buyers of tulips in those days.
To give you an idea: in those days one bulb of a tulip
would be sold for more money than this house in F-6/2,
even after the latest boom in the Islamabad property
market!
The first homeland of
the tulip is thought to be in Central Asia, not far
from Islamabad. Could there be a better field for co-operation
between the Netherlands and Pakistan than that of the
cultivation of flowers and horticulture?
The idea for this co-operation
came from Mr Peter La Graauw, an expert in flower cultivation.
He initiated contacts with the Pakistan Horticulture
Development and Export Board. As an Embassy we will
facilitate the travel of Pakistani board members to
attend one of the most important horticulture events'in
the world: the International Horti Fair which will be
held in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, from
3 to 6 November. Anything to do with flowers can be
found in this huge exhibition.
When it comes to flowers the Netherlands - also known
as Holland - is a big player in the world market. To
put it in one phrase: the Netherlands is a flower power.
More than 4 billion cut flowers and pot plants are exported
from Holland each year. Last year their export value
amounted to about 5 billion dollars. We like to share
this knowledge and expertise with Pakistan.
To put it simply and
in one phrase: the tulip must be brought back to Pakistan!
It is our wish that with the tulip come beauty, love,
and prosperity to this country and its people. We wish
the Horticulture Board every success in this enterprise.
And I like to thank Mr La Graauw for acting as a bridge
to bring the two countries together on such an important
and promising subject. We also thank the Quetta Flower
Association of Baluchistan for sending beautiful flowers;
the active ladies of the Floral Societies of Lahore
and Islamabad, who have been working very hard in this
garden; and Shatsi Sabir & Ahmed Associates for
their help. And I like to thank you for being present
on this occasion.
And on leaving these
premises, Ladies, do not forget to take one of these
pre_ious bulbs home as a present and memory!
Marcel Kurpershoek Netherlands
Ambassador
Islamabad 12 October 2004
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