Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a Dutch retired politician, jurist and diplomat who served as the eleventh Secretary General of NATO from January 2004 to August 2009. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which he led from March 1997 to October 2001, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2002 until December 2003 under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
Bernard Rudolf "Ben" Bot is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007 in the second and third cabinet of Jan Peter Balkenende. A career ambassador, he succeeded then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaap de Hoop Scheffer who resigned to become Secretary General of NATO.
Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has served as Secretary General of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as the prime minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2024, and as the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2006 to 2023, before leaving national politics. Serving a total of 13 years, 262 days, Rutte was the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history.
The minister of foreign affairs is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers. The incumbent minister is Caspar Veldkamp of the New Social Contract (NSC) party, who has been in office since 2 July 2024. Regularly, a state secretary is assigned to the ministry who is tasked with specific portfolios, currently the function is not in use. Additionally since 1965 there has been a minister without portfolio assigned to the ministry, the minister for foreign trade and development cooperation has traditionally development cooperation as portfolio, since 2012 the portfolio of trade and export has been assigned added to the function.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Netherlands' ministry responsible for foreign relations, foreign policy, international development, international trade, diaspora and matters dealing with the European Union, NATO 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.
Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the United States started in 1776 with the first salute at St. Eustatius's Fort Oranje and continues to this day as one of the oldest continual bilateral alliances in the western world. Today they are described as "excellent" by the United States Department of State and "close" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Founding members of the North Atlantic Alliance and allies since John Adams's visit to the Netherlands in 1782, it is considered one of the strongest military and economic alliances in contemporary history.
Netherlands–Russia relations is the relationships between the two countries, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Russian Federation. Russia has an embassy in The Hague, and the Netherlands has an embassy in Moscow, a consulate in Saint Petersburg, and an honorary consulate in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands have a special relationship resulting from actions during World War II when Canada hosted the Dutch royal family in exile and then led the military liberation of the Netherlands. The special relationship is still visible today, with the Canadian government describing the Netherlands as "one of Canada's most significant trade, investment and innovation partners." In part, the annual Canadian Tulip Festival still commemorates this relationship, with a tradition of tulips sent to Canada from the Netherlands as gratitude for the Canadian actions during World War II.
In the Netherlands, a minister without portfolio is a Government minister that does not head a specific ministry, but assumes the same power and responsibilities as a minister that does. The minister is responsible for a specific part of another minister's policy field. In that sense, a minister without portfolio is comparable to a state secretary, a junior minister in Dutch politics, who also falls under another ministry and is responsible for a specific part of that minister's policy field. However, one distinct difference is that a minister without portfolio is a member of the Council of Ministers and can vote in it, whereas a state secretary is not. The minister for development cooperation has always been a minister without portfolio.
The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid is a minister without portfolio in the Netherlands. The officeholder, who is a member of the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers, is assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minister is tasked with trade and export, development aid and international environmental policies.
Dutch–Turkish relations are the bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Turkey. The diplomatic relations widely encompass and span four centuries, beginning in 1612. The first Turkish representative in the Netherlands started activities in 1859.
Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag is a Dutch politician, humanitarian and diplomat who is the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza since 2024. Kaag most recently served in the fourth Rutte cabinet as First Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Finance from 2022 to 2024 and has previously served as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She was Leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) from 2020 to 2023.
India–Netherlands relations are the foreign relations between India and the Netherlands. India maintains an embassy in The Hague, Netherlands and the Netherlands maintains an embassy in New Delhi and a consulate general in Mumbai. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1947 the same year India became independent.
France–Netherlands relations are the interstate and bilateral relations between France and the Netherlands. The two countries notably share a border division in the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, to which the northern part of the island is a French overseas collectivity known as the Collectivity of Saint Martin, while the southern part of the island is a Dutch constituent country known as Sint Maarten. Relations between the two countries date back to the 17th and 18th centuries when a conflict led to the transformation of the Dutch Republic to the Batavian Republic and eventually the Kingdom of Holland. The two countries currently enjoy close cultural and economic relations. Both nations are members of the OECD and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, as well as founding members of the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations.
Kazakhstan–Netherlands relations refer to the bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and the Netherlands. The Netherlands has an embassy in Astana. Kazakhstan has an embassy in The Hague.
Elisabeth "Liesje" Schreinemacher is a Dutch lawyer and politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) who served as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in the fourth Rutte cabinet from 10 January 2022 to 2 July 2024. She previously served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2019 until 2022.
Ruben Pieter Brekelmans is a Dutch politician serving as the minister of defence in the Schoof cabinet since 2024. Brekelmans previously served as a member of the House of Representatives on behalf of the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). As a parliamentarian, he focused on foreign affairs and migration.
Thomas Justinus Arnout Marie de Bruijn is a Dutch diplomat, civil servant and politician who served as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in the third Rutte cabinet from 10 August 2021 to 10 January 2022. He is a member of the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) party.
The fourth Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 10 January 2022 until 2 July 2024. The cabinet was a continuation of the third Rutte cabinet and was formed by the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the social liberal Democrats 66 (D66) and the Christian democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union (CU) after the election of 2021. The cabinet fell on 7 July 2023, after failing to reach an agreement on separate treatment of refugees fleeing from war. It continued serving as a demissionary cabinet until the Schoof cabinet was sworn in on 2 July 2024.
