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Amsterdam – The ceremony was held on Thursday 10 December 2009 in Amsterdam in the magnificently restored Christofori building in Amsterdam.
Speakers included the mayors of Amsterdam and Amstelveen, the Dutch state secretary for justice the Indian embassy counsellor and the IES executive president and chairman.
Amsterdam Metropolitan area supports IES because it aims to achieve an optimal business climate for everybody including the growing community of Indian expats.
The mayor of Amstelveen symbolically launched the IES website when he pressed a red button to display the website on a large screen to the audience.
Board members and guest speakers ceremoniously lit a lamp to mark the inauguration. The evening ended with a classical Indian dance performance and a networking session for the guests accompanied by Indian food and drinks.
Introducing the Indian Expat Society
The IES, a non commercial organisation created in January 2009, serves the needs and represents the interests of the Indian expatriate community in the Netherlands.
Its membership is open to all Indian expats which includes professionals, business persons, and students alike.
The IES website offers useful information about living in the Netherlands which includes news, events, A-Z listings, forums, blogs, classifieds, housing and job search and an online social community.
Members can also register for social and business networking events organised by the society in The Hague or in Amsterdam.
IES also offers support and knowledge to members on a variety of topics such as cultural challenges, legal advice, professional and personal development and career opportunities.
Members can also obtain discounts as a collective on goods and services, such as insurance, air travel and vacation packages, museums and excursions, restaurants, cinema and concerts, and department stores.
The Netherlands has a fast-growing population of highly skilled and educated Indian professionals working for Indian companies including the top four in IT – Tata, Cognizant, Infosys en Wipro – in the Amsterdam area.
Indians are also active in ICT, finances, life sciences, management, legal and lingual sectors.
There are approximately 5000 Indian expats in the Netherlands, which makes up 30 percent of the highly skilled knowledge migrant community in the Netherlands.
As the largest national community of highly skilled knowledge migrants in the Netherlands, Indians clearly play an important role in the Dutch economy and the IES plays an essential role in helping this growing population to feel more at home in the Netherlands.
Visit the IES website at : www.indianexpatsociety.org
Vanessa Andreae
Photo credits: Bart Versteeg
