NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has assured the service of nurses from Kerala for Netherlands facing shortage of nurses. The chief minister informed this during a meet with Netherlands envoy Martin Van Den at the Kerala House in Delhi.

In a Facebook post, the chief minister said that he assured the envoy the service of nurses after the latter informed a huge shortage of nurses in Netherlands and that they presently need 30,000-40,000 nurses now.

The chief minister said the envoy told him that the nurses of Kerala are dedicated and their efficiency in work is impressive. The resident commissioner has been instructed to coordinate with the embassy on further proceedings.

The issues related to the flood reconstruction and port development in Kerala were also discussed. Netherlands king and queen will reach Kochi on October 17 and 18 as part of it, informed the envoy. A 15-20 representative team of Dutch company office-bearers, professionals and scientific experts will also accompany them. A financial delegation of forty people will be part of the mission.

The district collector in Kochi and the resident commissioner in Delhi will coordinate the work. The Kerala State Archives department and the Netherlands national archives will cooperate and develop Dutch heritages of Kochi and nearly 20 museums in Kerala.

There has been an agreement on the design and development of Azheekal harbour with the cooperation of Rotterdam port of Netherlands. It was also decided to strengthen the marine study centres at Neendakara and Kodungallur. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed during the October visit of the Netherlands delegation.