Dutch is a Germanic language originating from Western Europe, and is spoken by about 23 million people as a native language - around 5 million people speak it as a second language. It is said to be a cross between German and English, but is still uniquely its own in aspects of grammar and speaking.
Due to historical colonization, Dutch is at least one of the official languages in six different countries including the Netherlands and Belgium (Western Europe), Suriname (South America), Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten (Caribbean). Additionally, Dutch has a comprehensible dialect called Afrikaans, which is spoken by 15 to 23 million people in South Africa and Namibia.
Aside from historical or cultural reasons, Dutch is an important language for International Commerce.
Here are some interesting sites on the Netherlands:
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/netherlands.html