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| Ministry overview | |
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| Formed | 12 March 1798; 227 years ago (1798-03-12) |
| Jurisdiction | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
| Headquarters | Rijnstraat 8,The Hague |
| Employees | 3,000 |
| Annual budget | €13 billion (2023)[1] |
| Minister responsible | |
| Deputy Minister responsible |
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| Ministry executive |
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| Website | Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
TheMinistry of Foreign Affairs (Dutch:Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken; BZ) is theNetherlands' ministry responsible forforeign relations, foreign policy, international development, international trade,diaspora and matters dealing with theEuropean Union,NATO and theBenelux Union. The ministry was created in 1798, as the Department of Foreign Affairs of theBatavian Republic. In 1876, it became the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
TheMinister of Foreign Affairs is thehead of the ministry and a member of thecabinet of the Netherlands, the incumbent minister isDavid van Weel. The state secretary on the ministry isAukje de Vries, who is responsible for foreign trade and development aid.
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The Ministry was formed in 1798 as the Department of Foreign Affairs.[2] Since 1965 a special Minister for International Development has been appointed in each government with the exception of theFirst Balkenende cabinet and theFirst Rutte cabinet).
The Ministry is responsible for the foreign relations of the Netherlands and its responsibilities are as follows:[3]
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and theMinister 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:[4]
The Netherlands has about 140 diplomatic missions abroad,[5] seelist of diplomatic missions of the Netherlands.
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The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) was anon-profitfoundation established by the Ministry in 1996. IICD's aim was to supportsustainable development through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), notablycomputers and theInternet.
The institute, which was based inThe Hague, was active in ninedeveloping countries:Bolivia,Burkina Faso,Ecuador,Ghana,Jamaica,Mali,Tanzania,Uganda andZambia. IICD supported policy processes and projects involving the use of ICTs in the following sectors:health,education, "livelihoods" (mainlyagriculture), andgovernance. IICD received funding from the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Netherlands, the UKDepartment for International Development (DFID) and theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), amongst others.
IICD ceased operations on 31 December 2015.
