On Tuesday, July 2, the new Dutch cabinet, led by Prime Minister Dick Schoof, was formally sworn in. Zsolt Szabó was sworn in as the new state secretary for kingdom relations and digitalisation at the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations.

“One of the areas I want to focus on in the coming years is digitali­sation. It affects us all. I want the government to use digital tech­nology responsibly and to provide good services to citizens and busi­nesses. In addition, I see the rela­tionship with the Caribbean part of the Kingdom as valuable and I look forward to the meetings,” the new state secretary posted on his new Linkedln profile.

In a video by the ministry, Szabó reflected on the ceremony. “It has been a fantastic day,” he says. In the morning, the new state sec­retary, together with the rest of the cabinet, pledged their oaths before King Willem-Alexander.

Afterwards, they went to the min­istry and were introduced to the other officials and public servants within their departments. “I am still absorbing information,” Sz­abó says.

The new state secretary says that he believes he has been selected for this function due to his digi­tal background, as he has worked in digitalisation since 1988. “So when I heard that I could now translate my opinion into policy, I figured that I should do it, be­cause you do not get such an op­portunity every day.”

Szabó says that his ambition when it comes to digitalisation, is to fulfil a coordinating role as much happens in various min­istries. “And I hope that we can work together more,” he explains.

“When it comes to kingdom relations,” he continues, “I have already been there [in the Carib­bean parts of the Kingdom-Ed.].” As a member of parliament, Sz­abó has looked into the coast guard and safety of the islands.

“But of course, there is much more to it than safety, and from this position I will be able to work on other issues as well. And I am very much looking forward to my first trip, and to further strength­ening the relations.”

He adds that he wants to meet the people residing on the islands as it has been a while since his last working visit to the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. “Also to identify which issues are on peo­ple’s minds, and to solve these,” he concludes.

The Daily Herald.