Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid (Netherlands)

The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid (Minister voor Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingshulp) 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.

Until 2012, the title was Minister for Development Cooperation (minister voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking). Foreign trade and export promotion were handled by another appointee, a state secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Internationally, the state secretary was allowed to use the title of minister on official business. In 2010 both posts were merged, first as a state secretary; two years later a ministership was reinstated.

According to the OECD, the Netherlands’ total ODA (USD 6.5 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2022 due to an increase in in-donor refugee costs, support to Ukraine and higher contributions to European Union (EU) institutions. It represented 0.67% of gross national income (GNI).