The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is Main Partner of the BiD Network and the BiD Challenge.
As a country that looks beyond its borders, the Netherlands is committed to promoting the international legal order and building a safe, stable and prosperous world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is dedicated to eliminating conflict, poverty and injustice.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates and carries out Dutch foreign policy at its headquarters in The Hague and through its missions abroad. It is likewise the channel through which the Dutch Government communicates with foreign governments and international organisations.
More than a billion people worldwide are living on less than a dollar a day. About a billion people have no access to safe drinking water. One in six people are illiterate. Forty million people are infected with HIV/AIDS, 95% of whom live in developing countries. These figures show that greater efforts are still needed to combat poverty. Development cooperation is a global task.
The international community has made a commitment to halve global poverty by 2015. To achieve this, in 2000, it formulated eight ambitious Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs, to be achieved by 2015, are:
reduce by half the number of people who suffer from hunger;
ensure that all children receive primary education;
ensure that boys and girls have equal opportunities in schools;
reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five, and reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality rate;
halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases of poverty, such as malaria and tuberculosis;
reduce by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water and sanitation;
increase global aid to the agreed 0.7% of GNP;
establish an open and fair trading system and find a solution to the debt problem.
The Minister for Development Cooperation is fully committed to the Millennium Development Goals and strives to improve the quality and effectiveness of the Dutch contribution. To this end, the minister promotes partnerships with civil society organisations, enterprises and knowledge institutes in rich and poor countries alike. Together, we can achieve more.
