Boosting the ties between the Netherlands and Suriname is the theme of a visit to the former colony by prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen. The two-day visit starts on Tuesday.

‘I see it as our task to nourish and expand the links between our countries,’ says Verhagen on the foreign affairs ministry’s website, adding that there has not been enough contact between them in the past.
As well as talks with their Surinamese counterparts, Verhagen will visit a youth detention centre in the capital Paramaribo. He will also meet Suriname justice and police minister Chandrikapersad Santokhi to discuss working together in the area of civil rights, security and combating the drugs traffic between the two countries.
Suriname became independent from the Netherlands in 1975