Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb I am not the one to judge in whose hands must be the port

On April 2nd 2013, local government in Constanta hosted an official delegation from Rotterdam made of Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, deputy mayor Hamit Karakus, Rotterdam region's chief prosecutor, Fred Westerbeke, Rotterdam Police Chief, Frank Paauw, and other representatives of the Dutch authorities. The delegation included also the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Romania, Matthijs van Bonzel, and the Honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Constanta, Dan Coman.

The fourth port of the world

During the meeting, as expected, there were discussions about Port of Constanta, Port of Rotterdam and the possibility of co-operation between the two ports. The Mayor of Consatnta, Radu Mazare, confessed that he told his Dutch homologous that between the Port of Constanta and the Port of Rotterdam there are some major differences related to the organization: "You are 50 years ahead of us in terms of organization".
With the help of Social Democrat Party M.P., Mayor Radu Mazare is taking the necessary steps in order so the municipality will become major shareholder of the Port of Constanta. Furthermore, he warns that his relationship with Prime Minister Victor Ponta depends on the project that will allow the City Council of Constanta to administrate the shares of the port.
Asked what he thought about the possible transfer of Constanta Port from the administration of the Ministry of Transport into the administration of the municipality, Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam, said: "I am not the one to judge in whose hands must be the port".
Rotterdam port city is connected to major cities of the world: Shanghai, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and St. Petersburg. "Port of Rotterdam has belonged to the City Hall for a long lime and it was the first port in the world, but now it is the fourth. The city holds 70% of the shares of the port, the rest has the government. We have a port authority created in 2004, which is a private entity and has a president. The City Hall appoints the president and has a board of directors. Every two months, the president comes to me and discuss strategic issues related to the port", explained Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb the organization of the port of Rotterdam.

"I don’t judge the local connections"

According to Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, Port of Rotterdam has profit, and the local budget receives 50-60 million Euro of it.
The Dutch local government chief said that in the event of cooperation is less important who manages the port: "That's not the problem. We are interested in cooperation, but I don’t judge the local connections. But it's easier to collaborate if we are talking of similar entities. I know there are debates between the government and the local authorities, but I do not intervene. I’ll find out the central authorities opinion tomorrow".
As already known, the central authorities, namely the Minister of Transport, Liberal Relu Fenechiu, doesn’t see with good eyes Mazare’s administration intent. Last week, Fenechiu said: "Mazare came to have an official discussion about the Port of Constanta. I said that in my opinion the Port of Constanta should remain to the Ministry of Transport, considering its strategic importance".


Mazare’s interest

During the meeting, the mayor of Constanta said the administration he leads is interested in the way the Port of Rotterdam works, because "it is an example of the future" for the administration of Constanta. "If we consider the figures and the profit of the Port of Rotterdam, we are way behind it. If working with them will increase traffic and profits of our port, this collaboration is more than welcomed".