2013-2017 Merging aid and trade: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In 2013 development cooperation and facilitation of foreign trade were merged in one ministerial portfolio within the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, partly as a response to international thinking about gradually phasing out development cooperation in countries that had reached a certain level of economic prosperity and partly as a means to a perceived optimization of results through a stronger focus on comparative advantages of the involvement of Dutch private sector and knowledge institutions. Aid and trade were no longer seen as competing but as complementary efforts to reduce hunger and poverty, while at the same time Dutch private sector interests were promoted. In Dutch international cooperation trade is promoted through (1) market development, focusing mainly on creating opportunities for Dutch traders and investors and (2) value chain integration - access of smallholders and SMEs in developing countries to local and international markets. Development cooperation efforts aim to bridge these interests through private sector support programs. However, integration of trade and aid policies remains a challenge.