Bert Koenders

His Excellency Bert Koenders
Bert Koenders in 2015
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 October 2014
Prime Minister	Mark Rutte
Preceded by	Frans Timmermans
Minister for Development Cooperation
In office 22 February 2007 – 23 February 2010
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Agnes van Ardenne
Succeeded by	Maxime Verhagen
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
In office 17 November 2006 – 19 February 2007
Preceded by	Pierre Lellouche
Succeeded by	José Lello
Personal details
Born	Albert Gerard Koenders (1958-05-28) 28 May 1958 Arnhem, Netherlands
Political party	Labour Party
Alma mater	Free University Amsterdam University of Amsterdam Johns Hopkins University

Albert Gerard "Bert" Koenders (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑlbərt ˈɣɪːrɑrt bɛrt ˈkundərs]; born 28 May 1958) is a Dutch politician and diplomat, a member of the Labour Party. He has been the Netherlands' Minister of Foreign Affairs since 17 October 2014.

Koenders studied political science and international relations. He was a member of the House of Representatives (1997–2007), the Minister for Development Cooperation (2007–2010), the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Operation in the Ivory Coast (2011–2013), and the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (2013–2014). Koenders founded the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank/International Monetary Fund and has served as President of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly and leader of its Socialist Group.

Early life and education

Albert Gerard Koenders was born on 28 May 1958 in Arnhem in Gelderland,^[1] where he grew up in a Reformed environment.^[2] He was a boy scout.^[2] He attended the secondary school Carolus Clusius College in Zwolle, where he completed the pre-university program.^[1]

Koenders studied political science at the Free University Amsterdam (sitting his candidates examination in 1978) and political and social sciences (international relations and economics) at the University of Amsterdam (graduating in 1983).^[3] He received his Master of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he studied at the School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna and Washington from 1979 to 1981.^[4]

Koenders is not married.^[5]

Early career

Koenders was adjunct professor at Webster University in Leiden from 1987 to 1993.^[1] In 2002 he was visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna teaching about conflict prevention and management, and post-conflict reconstruction.^[4]

From 1983 to 1993, Koenders worked as an aide for the Labour Party in the House of Representatives.^[1] He served as an adviser to the United Nations Operation in Mozambique in the early 1990s, his first job outside the Netherlands. Between 1995 and 1997, he worked in the private office of Hans van den Broek, who was then the Dutch European commissioner and had shared responsibility for foreign policy. During that time, one of his tasks was defining the EU’s competences on foreign policy.^[6]

Political career

The Fourth Balkenende cabinet in 2007 with Koenders on the far left

House of Representatives

Koenders was a member of the House of Representatives from 1997 until 2007. In 1997, he filled the vacant seat after member of parliament Maarten van Traa died in a car accident.^[7] He was member of the permanent parliamentary committees on foreign affairs and on defense.^[4] From 2002 until 2003 he was a member of the parliamentary hearing committee on the Srebrenica massacre.^[1]

From 17 November 2006 to 19 February 2007 he was president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Minister of Development Cooperation

Koenders was minister without portfolio for Development Cooperation (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet sworn in on 22 February 2007.^[8]

He came under political fire as minister in July 2007, after it became known that an event sponsored by the Ministry, Het akkoord van Schokland, was organized without a public procurement process stipulated under European Union law. Instead, the event was organized by an event bureau closely tied to the Labour Party itself. Koenders cited time shortage.^[9][10]

Between 2008 and 2009, Koenders was part of a High-Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, which had been launched to help strengthen health systems in the 49 poorest countries in the world and was chaired by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank president Robert Zoellick.^[11] In 2009, he criticized Pope Benedict XVI for his assertion that distributing condoms is not the solution to AIDS and actually makes the problem worse.^[12]

United Nations

Frans Timmermans, Jean Bosco Kazura, Bert Koenders, and Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in Mali in 2013

Between 2011 and 2013, he served as the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Operation in the Ivory Coast.

Between 2013 and 2014, he was the Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.^[13]

Minister of Foreign Affairs

On 17 October 2014, Koenders succeeded Frans Timmermans as Minister of Foreign Affairs.^[14]

At the 2016 United Nations Security Council election, Koenders and his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni agreed on splitting a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council after the United Nations General Assembly was deadlocked on whether to choose Italy or the Netherlands following five rounds of voting for the last remaining 2017/18 seat.^[15]

Honours

• Knight of the Legion of Honour (France, 2006)^[16]
• Companion of the Order of the Volta (Ghana, 2008)^[17]
• Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands, 2010)^[1]
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan, 2014)^[18]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bert Koenders.

• Bert Koenders at the website of the Dutch government
• (Dutch) Bert Koenders at the website of the Dutch Labour Party

Ministers for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Bot Udink Boertien Pronk De Koning Van Dijk Schoo Bukman Pronk Herfkens Van Ardenne Koenders Verhagen Ploumen

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Schimmelpenninck Bentinck van Nijenhuis Lightenvelt Van Sonsbeeck Ja. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Hall Gevers van Endegeest Van Goltstein Van Hall Ju. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van der Goes van Dirxland Ja. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Strens Stratenus Van der Maesen de Sombreff Huyssen van Kattendijke Cremers Ju. van Zuylen van Nijevelt Van Mulken Roest van Limburg Van Mulken Gericke van Herwijnen Van der Does de Willebois Van Heeckeren van Kell Van Lynden van Sandenburg Rochussen Van der Does de Willebois Du Tour van Bellinchave Van Karnebeek Hartsen Van Tienhoven Jansen Röell De Beaufort Van Lynden Ellis Van Weede van Berencamp Ellis Van Tets van Goudriaan De Marees van Swinderen Cort van der Linden Loudon Van Karnebeek Beelaerts van Blokland De Graeff Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Colijn Patijn Van Kleffens Van Roijen Van Boetzelaer van Oosterhout Stikker Beyen Luns Schmelzer Van der Stoel Van der Klaauw Van der Stoel Van Agt Van den Broek Kooijmans Van Mierlo Van Aartsen De Hoop Scheffer Bot Verhagen Rosenthal Timmermans Koenders