This week’s four-day trade mission to China has resulted in orders for Dutch companies worth at least €500m, according to foreign trade ministry officials. In total, 12 agreements covering close alliances with Chinese firms were signed.

They included a deal between Chinese technology company SMIC and chip machinery maker ASML. Other deals involved shipbuilding, telecoms and even ice rink construction, the ministry said.

Foreign trade minister Liliane Ploumen held talks with her Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan in Beijing. ‘We both expressed the wish to intensify the relationship [between China and the Netherlands],’ Ploumen said. ‘In terms of both trade and other areas.’

A delegation of Amsterdam officials and companies, including mayor Eberhard van der Laan, were in China at the same time.