Both officials were attending the EU-Latin America Summit in Chile that ended on Sunday. The meeting between the two ministers was the first ministerial contact between The Netherlands and Suriname in two years. The release didn't say which one of the Ministers initiated the contact.

 

The relationship between Suriname's current government and the country's former colonizer has been sour from the time Desi Bouterse won the presidency in 2010. Bouterse is widely blamed for the murders of 15 of his political opponents in 1982, and was sentenced in absentia by a Dutch court in the nineties for involvement in drug trafficking. Tensions took a turn for the worse last year, when Suriname's Parliament in May 2012 passed an amendment to its Amnesty Law that could see Bouterse pardoned for the murders. The Netherlands tightened its grip on development aid to Suriname further and withdrew its ambassador to the country; Suriname, in return, didn't appoint a successor to its last envoy to The Hague, saying that this is not among its priorities. Diplomatic relations between the two countries stiffened and have since remained businesslike.

 

The meeting between Timmermans and Lackin in Chile may well warm things up. The Dutch Foreign Minister explained after the meeting that it's natural that there is proper contact between the two countries. "In Holland and Suriname combined, there are at least 1.5 million people who are closely related. There is an unbreakable link between our countries, of people, culture, language and history. That transcends political disagreements, which is why The Netherlands will continue to endeavor for a good relationship between the communities," the Dutch Labour Party (PvDA) Minister said.

 

Timmermans, a former diplomat and State Secretary, was sworn in as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs in November 2012. He serves in the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and succeeded VVD politician Uri Rosenthal, who was Foreign Minister in the first Rutte Cabinet.

 

That he would aim to resume dialogue between the two countries, was predicted late last year by Dutch Euro-parliamentarian Rita Oomen. Oomen, while attending the EU/ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Paramaribo last November, told journalists that Timmermans' diplomatic experience would serve well to take the dialogue into a new direction with due consideration for the past.

 

The Foreign Affairs press release said Timmermans and Lackin agreed to meet again later this year.