Sigrid Kaag

The Dutch government plans to make Curacao the "logistic hub" for humanitarian aid to neighbor Venezuela, Ministers Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs and Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Aid said in a letter to parliament. Representatives of the Dutch government, in consultation with the government of Curacao, will agree with the request from interim Venezuelan president Juan Guaidó and the United States to do so, the Ministers wrote, NOS reports.

A Dutch trade mission to Saudi Arabia in December will definitely not happen. Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation will not go to the country because of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday, NU.nl reports.

Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation thinks that stronger rebuttal must be made against populism, she said during the Abel Herzberg lecture on Saturday. While she didn't mention populist parties PVV and FvD by name, she strongly referred to them during her call to better protect democracy, AD reports.

The Dutch government supported Jabhat al-Shamiya, an armed group in Syria that the Public Prosecutor labeled terrorist, according to research by Nieuwsuur and Trouw. A Dutch man is currently being prosecuted for participating in this group. The indictment states that Jabhat al-Shamiya is "salafist and jihadist", "strives for the establishment of a caliphate", and "can't be otherwise qualified" than as a "criminal organization with terrorist intent", Nieuwsuur reports.

The Dutch government is committing an extra 10 million euros to making HIV prevention and AIDS inhibitors more accessible to vulnerable groups, such as men who have sex with other men, drug users, trans people, young people and sex workers. In the coming years, the amount will be invested in supporting these vulnerable groups in regions where HIV is still spreading, Minister Sigrid Kaag of Development Cooperation announced at the  AIDS 2018 conference in Amsterdam on Monday, RTL Nieuws reports.

The United States implemented import duties on steel and aluminum from the European Union, Mexico and Canada. From 6:00 a.m. on Friday, Dutch time, a rate of 25 percent applies for steel and 10 percent for aluminum from these countries. The Dutch government called the decision unwise and regrettable, NOS and NU.nl report.

Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation will be leading a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York on Thursday. Prime Minister Mark Rutte will lead a meeting on March 28th.

Thursday is also International Women's Day. In this context, the Netherlands called on the 14 members of the Security Council to include as many female colleagues as possible in their delegations today, the Telegraaf reports. The Netherlands is the president of the Security Council, the UN's most important body, for the entire month of March.

The Netherlands was appointed President of the UN Security Council for this month, the government announced. That is a big honor and responsibility, especially given the fact that the Netherlands is only a temporary member of the Council for this year. 

As president of the UN Security Council, the Netherlands will lead all meetings. The president also has an influence on what topics will be on the Council's agenda. "Modernizing peace missions and tackling root causes of conflict such as climate change are Dutch priorities in the Security Council", the government said. 

A member of the Dutch cabinet will attend the commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Yerevan in April. But that does not mean that the government is making a statement about whether what happened in 1915 was or was not a genocide, Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Affairs said in the Tweede Kamer on Thursday, NOS reports.

The Netherlands committed 29 million euros to She Decides for 2017 and 2018. The Dutch contribution to the now international movement, launched by former Dutch minister Lilianne Ploumen last year, gives over a million women in Ethiopia, Yemen, Mali, Bangladesh, Mozambique and other developing countries access to family planing.

The names of the Rutte III cabinet's Ministers and State Secretaries were announced on Saturday. In addition to Prime Minster Mark Rutte, there wil be 15 Ministers and eight State Secretaries. Just over a third of the new government are women. The expectation is that the Rutte III cabinet will take office on October 26th, RTL Nieuws reports.