The Dutch Embassy in London held a kick-off session on 6 March for UK participants, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands this week hosted the group 12 British and 12 Dutch diplomats.

This year, we have invited brilliant speakers to discuss policy priorities in which we think we can move the needle with the UK, i.e. AI, Feminist Foreign Policy, the future of Europe, and Sanctions cooperation.

Participants follow skills-based training with the esteemed Clingendael and the British Council on negotiating and intercultural dialogue.

There’s more: participants were enlightened on the realities of being a host country for international organisations (with Protocol Director Dominique Kuhling); learned about the Netherlands as a cycling country and front-runner in sustainable mobility (with the Dutch Cycling Embassy), heard about the intricate workings of (and with) the Dutch Parliament, and spoke with the NOS correspondent for the UK and Ireland. It's a full and intense programme, yet it barely scratches the surface of our intensive cooperation.

This format of exchange is an absolute best practice at the Europe Department in the Hague, so much so that other Joint Diplomatic Programmes have been modeled on it (e.g. with Germany and Poland).