The King and Queen visited the Dutch Dairy Expertise Center and viewed its work first-hand

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands visited the Dutch Dairy Expertise Center, located in Shunyi district in Beijing on Sunday afternoon.

During their state visit to China from Oct 25 to 29, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the royal couple saw first-hand the work of Chinese dairy companies at the Sino-Dutch Dairy Development Center (SDDDC). They were accompanied by Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders and Minister of Agriculture Sharon Dijksma.

The SDDDC and its subsidiary Dutch Dairy Expertise Center are initiatives of Royal FrieslandCampina, one of the world's largest dairy companies. The center works to improve the quality and safety of the Chinese dairy chain.

Roelof Joosten, Chief Executive Officer of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V., and James Chiu, Chairman and CEO at FrieslandCampina China, also accompanied the royal couple on their Oct 25 visit to the center.

At the farm, the Dutch King met with Chinese dairy farmers who were also on hand for training and a lecture on "Cow Signal", a course developed to improve the health and welfare of cows.

A Sino-Dutch seminar on the role of dairy in a healthy diet was also held at the center. There was a signing ceremony of two Chinese players in the dairy industry - Henan Huahuaniu Group and Beijing Eastern Bell Technology Group - to join SDDDC. Chinese dairy giants Yili Group and China Huishan Dairy Holdings Limited also announced their intention to join the center.

Dutch dairy company FrieslandCampina, China Agricultural University (CAU) and Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR) signed an agreement in 2013 to establish a China-based Sino-Dutch Dairy Development Center.

The center will focus on improving dairy production, safety and quality levels throughout the entire dairy chain in China by sharing Dutch dairy expertise with Chinese experts and decision-makers in dairy research and the dairy industry.

Roelof Joosten, Chief Executive Officer of Royal FrieslandCampina, said: "SDDDC and FrieslandCampina are dedicated to promoting and strengthening the experience, sharing, communication and collaboration between China and the Netherlands. The Dutch dairy industry's technology and policymaking are beneficial in supplying safe and healthy dairy products for Chinese consumers".

James Chiu, Chairman and CEO at Royal FrieslandCampina China, said: "We are honored to help Chinese dairy professionals to raise their know-how and technologies".

Founded in 1871, FrieslandCampina is one of the world's largest dairy cooperatives with annual revenue of 10.3 billion euros. It has 14,132 dairy farms in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, and more than 140 years of experience of cooperative entrepreneurship.

FrieslandCampina plays an important role in providing food for hundreds of millions of people all over the world. FrieslandCampina's products include infant formula, ingredients, pasteurized milk, UHT milk, Yogurt, dairy-based beverages, toddler nutrition, cheese, butter, and cream. In addition to consumer products FrieslandCampina also supplies dairy ingredients to professional customers, the food industry and the pharmaceutical sector.

FrieslandCampina are also milk experts who are continuously expanding their knowledge of the applications of milk. Such knowledge extends from the quality of the pasture on which the cows graze to the marketing of cheeses, healthy milk-based drinks and the best possible ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industries and all steps in between.

At the seminar, a new book, From Grass to Glass: The Dutch Dairy Chain from a Chinese View, was launched, documenting the experiences of a visiting Chinese Agricultural Science professor in the Netherlands.

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn