The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( nl, link=no, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken; BZ) is the Netherlands' ministry responsible for

foreign relations A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through m ...

, foreign policy, international development, international trade, diaspora and matters dealing with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and the Benelux Union. The ministry was created in 1798, as the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Batavian Republic. In 1876, it became the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is the head of the ministry and 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 Min ...

, the incumbent acting minister is

Wopke Hoekstra Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra (born 30 September 1975) is a Dutch politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, second Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Minist ...

. The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation is a minister without portfolio within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its incumbent minister is Liesje Schreinemacher.

History

The Ministry was formed in 1798 as the Department of Foreign Affairs. Since 1965 a special Minister for International Development has been appointed in each government with the exception of the First Balkenende cabinet and the

First Rutte cabinet The first Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Verhagen cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Fr ...

Responsibilities

The Ministry is responsible for the foreign relations of the Netherlands and its responsibilities are as follows: *to maintain relations with other countries and international organisations. *to promote cooperation with other countries. *to help developing countries accelerate their social and economic development through international cooperation. *to promote the interests of Dutch nationals and the Netherlands abroad. *to collect information on other countries and international developments for the Government and other interested parties. *to provide information on Dutch policy and the Netherlands' position on international issues and developments. *to present the Netherlands to the world. *to deal with applications from and the problems of foreigners living in the Netherlands or seeking to enter or leave the country.

Organisation

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation provide political leadership to the Ministry. The ministry consists of four directorates-general, which deal with a particular policy area: * The Directorate-General for Political Affairs is concerned with peace, security and human rights. This includes the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy, the political role of

, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

ands the guidance for embassies and other diplomatic missions. * The Directorate-General for European Cooperation concerns itself with the

. It is responsible for Dutch relations with EU members and candidate countries. It also coordinates policy in other regional organisations like the Council of Europe, the OECD and the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...

. * The Directorate-General for International Cooperation is responsible for international development, in line with the four Dutch priorities of water, security and the rule of law, food security and

sexual and reproductive health and rights Sexual and reproductive health and rights or ''SRHR'' is the concept of human rights applied to sexuality and reproduction. It is a combination of four fields that in some contexts are more or less distinct from each other, but less so or not at ...

. * The Directorate-General for Foreign Economic Relations promotes the interests of Dutch businesses abroad and helps shape the Dutch contribution to the global economic order. The Netherlands has about 140 diplomatic missions abroad, see list of diplomatic missions of the Netherlands.

International Institute for Communication and Development

The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) was a non-profit

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

established by the Ministry in 1996. IICD's aim was to support sustainable development through the use of information and communication technologies ( ICTs), notably computers and the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. The institute, which was based in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, was active in nine developing countries: Bolivia, Burkina Faso,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, Mali,

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, Uganda and Zambia. IICD supported policy processes and projects involving the use of ICTs in the following sectors: health,

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

, "livelihoods" (mainly

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

), and governance. IICD received funding from the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Netherlands, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), amongst others. IICD ceased operations on 31 December 2015.

References

External links

*
IICD Legacy website - with information on IICD's approach and programmes, and an extensive digital archive with all key IICD resources
{{Authority control 1798 establishments in the Batavian Republic

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...