Anna Maria Agnes "Agnes" van Ardenne-Van der Hoeven (born 21 January 1950) is a retired

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

politician and diplomat of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

(CDA).

Career

Agnes van Ardenne was born in

Maasland Maasland (population: 6,844) is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It lies in the municipality (''gemeente'') of Midden-Delfland and covers an area of 24.42 km2 (of which 0.64 km2 water). History From ...

in 1950. Before taking office as a member of the

Cabinet of the Netherlands The cabinet of the Netherlands ( nl, Nederlands kabinet) is the main executive body of the Netherlands. The current cabinet of the Netherlands is the Fourth Rutte cabinet, which has been in power since 10 January 2022. It is headed by Prime Minis ...

, she was the Deputy Chairwoman of the Netherlands-based Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid (CORDAID) and Secretary General of the UNICEF National Committee of the Netherlands. While sitting in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

between 1994 and 2002, she was a member of the parliament's delegations to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

(PACE).

Famara Jatta and Agnes van Ardenne, IMF 691765l

Between 2002 and 2007, van Ardenne served as Minister for Development Cooperation in the cabinet of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

. When the Netherlands held the presidency of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

in 2004, she chaired the meetings of the EU Development Ministers. During her time in office, van Ardenne focused on

fragile state A fragile state or weak state is a country characterized by weak state capacity or weak state legitimacy leaving citizens vulnerable to a range of shocks. The World Bank, for example, deems a country to be ‘fragile’ if it (a) is eligible for ...

s and countries in conflict, including

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. She chose to concentrate Dutch bilateral development cooperation on

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(at least 50% of the bilateral budget). In 2006, she ordered a suspension of nearly $150 million in aid to the government of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Mwai Kibaki Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013 and is regarded as one of Kenya's founding fathers. He had previously ser ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

because of concerns over corruption. Van Ardenne was one of the first foreign dignitaries to visit

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

after the

2005 Kashmir earthquake The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at on 8 October in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. It was centred near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Indian-administered Jammu and ...

, to witness the emergency aid operation still being conducted at full capacity. In 2006, van Ardenne increased the Netherlands’ support to post-primary and higher education to 110 million euros per year from the earlier level of 60 million euros, and increased its contribution to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) to 150 million euros in 2006 and subsequent years. Also in 2006, van Ardenne significantly increased the Dutch contribution to the

Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

(GAVI), pledging nearly €100 million over four years for global vaccination and programmes to strengthen health systems. In what was the single largest earmarked donation

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

had received in its then 60-year history, van Ardenne later pledged $201 million over four years to expand the agency's ongoing efforts to ensure that children in conflict, natural disasters and emerging from crisis can go to school. After leaving office, van Ardenne worked as her country’s Permanent Representative to the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

(FAO), the

World Food Program The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

(WFP) and the

International Fund for Agricultural Development The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD; french: link=no, Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA)) is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations that works to address ...

(IFAD) in Rome from 2007 until 2011. She was succeeded by

Gerda Verburg Gerritje "Gerda" Verburg (born 19 August 1957) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and trade union leader From 2011 until 2016 Verburg served as Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherl ...

. Between 2011 and 2014, van Ardenne served as chairwoman of the Dutch Product Board for Horticulture. Since 2017, she has been chairwoman of the Netherlands Inspection Service for Horticulture.

Other activities

International organizations

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...

(AfDB), Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2003-2007) *

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...

(ADB), Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2003-2007) *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2003-2007)

Non-profit organizations

* African Studies Centre (ASC) at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

, Chairwoman of the Board of Governors (since 2013) * Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI), Member (since 2012) *

Van Hall Larenstein Van Hall Larenstein, University of Applied Sciences ( nl, Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein), often abbreviated as VHL, is a vocational university in the Netherlands. It has locations in Leeuwarden and Velp (near Arnhem). History Since January 20 ...

, President of the Supervisory Board * Marga Klompé Foundation, Chairwoman of the Board

Political positions

On 30 March 2012, van Ardenne and several other prominent CDA members, including former Prime Ministers

Ruud Lubbers Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers (; 7 May 1939 – 14 February 2018) was a Dutch politician, diplomat and businessman who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, and as United Nations High Commissioner for Re ...

and

Piet de Jong Petrus Jozef Sietse "Piet" de Jong (; 3 April 1915 – 27 July 2016) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and naval officer who served as Prime Minister of the Neth ...

, signed a petition of disapproval on the proposed cuts to the budget of

international development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic or human development on an international scale. It is the basis for international classifications ...

by the first cabinet of

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unilever ...

.Piet de Jong dreigt CDA te verlaten
NU.nl, 31 March 2012

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
A.M.A. (Agnes) van Ardenne-van der Hoeven
Parlememt.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ardenne, Agnes van 1950 births Living people Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch officials of the United Nations Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch women diplomats Mayors in South Holland People from Westland (municipality), Netherlands International Fund for Agricultural Development people Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Ministers for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands Municipal councillors in South Holland People from Vlaardingen Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Maassluis People from Midden-Delfland Representatives of the Netherlands to the Food and Agriculture Organization State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Women government ministers of the Netherlands Women mayors of places in the Netherlands World Food Programme people 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch diplomats 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch diplomats 21st-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians Dutch women ambassadors