Portal (en) - About Dutch Missions Abroad

Factsheet - June 2004

What are embassies and consulates for?
Political affairs
Economic affairs
Development cooperation
Consular affairs
Press and cultural affairs
The network of missions in europe
Staffing of missions

All over the world, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has missions: embassies, consulates, and permanent representations to international organisations. The missions are the eyes, ears, and voice of the Netherlands. Embassies and consulates are bilateral missions that promote Dutch interests and assist Dutch nationals living or travelling abroad. Embassies are also active in development cooperation and press and cultural affairs. Consulates, subordinate to embassies, carry out more practical, routine tasks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague coordinates the worldwide network of missions. This factsheet describes in more detail what they do.

What are embassies and consulates for?

Dutch foreign policy is driven by the conviction that international cooperation brings peace and promotes security, prosperity, and justice. And it is bound by the obligation to promote Dutch interests abroad as effectively and efficiently as possible. To do so, the Netherlands needs a worldwide network of embassies, consulates, and permanent representations to international organisations. The activities, composition, and size of each mission depend on its host country and region.

Bilateral missions and their activities:

Embassies and consulates – bilateral missions – concern themselves with relations between the Netherlands and other countries. They work in five areas:
political affairs
economic affairs
development cooperation
consular affairs
press and cultural affairs.

Embassies operate in all these areas, whereas consulates only handle economic and consular affairs and, on occasion, press and cultural affairs.

In early 2004, the Netherlands had 154 missions abroad to which ministry personnel were attached:

110 embassies
27 consulates-general
15 permanent missions, delegations and representations to international organisations, including the UN, the EU, NATO, the OECD, the OPCW, and the OSCE
One embassy office in Priština (Serbia and Montenegro)
Representations in Ramallah (Palestinian Authority) and Kabul (Afghanistan).
In many countries, the embassies are assisted by consular missions headed by unpaid honorary consuls – 360 of them worldwide. And in 16 countries, the embassies are assisted by economic support offices.

The Ministry's headquarters also houses the Permanent Representation to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is based in The Hague.

Political affairs

Embassies monitor and analyse their host country’s domestic and foreign policies and the political trends they reflect.

They report to The Hague about local developments likely to affect the Netherlands directly or indirectly. The detail and frequency of their bulletins will depend on the host country’s political and economic importance to the Netherlands and its position in its region or the world. A bulletin may be about security, the economy, the environment or human rights in the host country. The embassies also explain Dutch policy to their host country and take part in multilateral negotiations – and they sometimes help conduct international peace and security operations in which the Netherlands is taking part.

European Union

Cooperation between the missions of the EU member states is a separate subject. These bilateral missions maintain close ties and harmonise policies and standpoints under the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.

Economic affairs

Embassies and consulates promote Dutch economic interests, working with two branches of the Ministry of Economic Affairs: the Directorate-General for Foreign Economic Relations (BEB) and the Netherlands Foreign Trade Agency (EVD).

Dutch economic policy aims to make the Netherlands more competitive. The missions help by promoting Dutch trade in their host countries. They also report to The Hague about their host country’s investment climate, trade and economic policies, and trends in markets of potential interest to Dutch exporters.

Companies

Embassies and consulates promote the interests of individual Dutch companies doing business in their host country. They help solve practical problems encountered by companies lacking local knowledge, and they organise promotional activities like group business trips and networking meetings.

The environment

Embassies work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the field of the environment. Their main task is to help develop an international environment policy, which requires painstaking preparation and wide-ranging international discussions.

Development cooperation

In countries receiving aid, the embassies play an important part in organising and carrying out development activities. They help formulate a general approach, which is further worked out in multiyear regional or country policy plans. And they provide a channel for the Dutch and host country governments to talk about the whole range of development issues.

Implementing development projects

The embassies play an important part in implementing development projects. They are well placed to mobilise local capacity and expertise, and they benefit from having local knowledge – which is important in deciding whether a proposed project should be implemented by the host country government or a non-governmental organisation.

The embassies are primarily responsible for choosing activities that qualify for development funding. They appraise the technical, managerial, and policy-related aspects of these activities, translating them into terms that the Ministry can assess. Once a project gets the go-ahead, the embassy is responsible for monitoring its implementation.

Consular affairs

Consular affairs involve protecting and promoting the interests of Dutch people abroad, whether they live there or are there temporarily for business or pleasure. Consulates are subordinate to embassies. They often represent the Netherlands in different parts of the same host country. Their work comprises consular, economic, and press and cultural affairs.

Consular activities include:
issuing passports;
investigating the nationality of visa applicants;
drawing up legal documents;
issuing declarations;
forwarding judicial documents;
authenticating documents;
visiting Dutch nationals in prison and ensuring that their rights are respected;
informing relatives when a Dutch national has died, had an accident, or been admitted to hospital – and advising them what to do;
liaising with local authorities in searches for missing persons.

Visa applications

The consulates’ handling of visa applications deserves separate mention. Their workload diminished when the Netherlands abolished visa requirements for some Central European nationals, but it grew again when the Schengen countries introduced visa stickers and tightened controls on their issue.

The Schengen countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden) work closely together in carrying out visa policy. They lay down regulations specifying which embassies should process visa applications for visiting more than one Schengen country. Not all Schengen countries have embassies or consulates in every country in the world. They therefore sometimes issue visas on each other’s behalf.

Asylum applications

A growing consular activity is information gathering in countries whose nationals have applied for asylum in the Netherlands. For asylum applications to be processed, information has to be gathered and verified accurately – a task for which missions are responsible. They investigate facts and documents in individual cases and provide general information on the countries concerned.

Efforts to counter illegal immigration and the growing misuse of asylum procedures have led to more cooperation between missions in three areas: tackling people smuggling, monitoring and registering flows of asylum seekers, and deporting failed asylum seekers.

Press and cultural affairs

Embassies and consulates promote cultural cooperation with the host country and provide public information about the Netherlands. They do so in close consultation with Dutch government bodies.

Public information

As well as providing public information about the Netherlands, the missions aim to foster interest and goodwill. With an array of promotional activities, they provide information with two objectives: to promote the export of Dutch goods, services and knowledge, and to attract investment, events and tourists to the Netherlands.

Press relations

Embassies and (more rarely) consulates, communicate with the local press to ensure fair and accurate reporting of the Netherlands, its standpoints, policies, and contribution to international efforts such as peacekeeping. They also correct information that is inaccurate or reflects badly on the Netherlands.

Missions escort visiting Dutch journalists if required and maintain close links with those living in the host country. They also issue press releases to publicise visits by Dutch public figures.

The network of missions in Europe

The network of Dutch missions in Europe consists of 36 embassies plus the consulates subordinate to them.

Bilateral missions in EU member countries

As EU integration continues, Dutch bilateral missions in the other member states might be supposed to have less and less to do. In fact, the opposite is true. They still need to be capable of analysing the host country’s political situation, without which their bulletins would lack the necessary insight. And if the Netherlands were to reduce the capacity of these bilateral missions, it would find it harder both politically and administratively to explain its policies and if necessary make them acceptable.

EU enlargement

EU enlargement has made the preparatory bilateral activities that precede multilateral decision-making more important. It has also increased demand for the reporting of member states’ standpoints on EU decision-making, the implementation of EU decisions, and the monitoring of implementation. This means more work for Dutch bilateral missions in countries applying to join the EU, since the run-up to accession entails extra information gathering, lobbying, and preparation of common positions. Far from fading away, the bilateral missions in the EU member states and applicant countries will become more important in the future.

Central and Eastern Europe

Recent political developments have led to the birth of many new states in Central and Eastern Europe. The Netherlands is building relations with these countries and has opened embassies and consulates in some of them.

Staffing of missions

The Netherlands’ missions abroad are generally staffed by employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As other ministries’ policy areas have become more global, the embassies have employed more of their staff. Many embassies now employ technical attachés seconded from the Ministries of Defence, Economic Affairs, Agriculture, or Social Affairs.

Head of mission

Every Dutch mission has a head of mission. Depending on the type of mission, this may be an ambassador, a temporary or permanent chargé d’affaires, a consul-general, or a consul. An embassy is always headed by an ambassador and a consulate-general or consulate by a consul-general or a consul. In the absence of an ambassador, his or her deputy becomes the temporary chargé d'affaires. This post can be held by a person of any diplomatic rank. Some missions are always headed, for a variety of reasons, by a chargé d’affaires.

Ranks and titles

In diplomatic relations, titles are the customary means for a receiving state to identify an official:

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Chargé d’affaires (and temporary chargé d’affaires)
Minister Plenipotentiary
Counsellor
First Secretary
Second Secretary
Third Secretary
Consul-General
Consul
Vice-Consul
Attaché
Head of Chancery

Career and honorary consuls

The Dutch government employs both career and honorary consuls. A career consul is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee who has been posted to a mission, whereas an honorary consul is recruited locally and is usually not a Dutch national. Most honorary consuls speak at least English, French, German or Spanish, and more than a third also speak Dutch.

The “honorary” title means that the consul receives no salary – only the expenses they incur. They carry out almost the same activities as career consuls. Exceptions include issuing passports and Schengen visas, which only career consuls can do.



About Dutch missions Multilateral missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Home Nederlands Contact us	Homepage > About Dutch missions Factsheet - June 2004 What are embassies and consulates for? Political affairs Economic affairs Development cooperation Consular affairs Press and cultural affairs The network of missions in europe Staffing of missions All over the world, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has missions: embassies, consulates, and permanent representations to international organisations. The missions are the eyes, ears, and voice of the Netherlands. Embassies and consulates are bilateral missions that promote Dutch interests and assist Dutch nationals living or travelling abroad. Embassies are also active in development cooperation and press and cultural affairs. Consulates, subordinate to embassies, carry out more practical, routine tasks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague coordinates the worldwide network of missions. This factsheet describes in more detail what they do. What are embassies and consulates for? Dutch foreign policy is driven by the conviction that international cooperation brings peace and promotes security, prosperity, and justice. And it is bound by the obligation to promote Dutch interests abroad as effectively and efficiently as possible. To do so, the Netherlands needs a worldwide network of embassies, consulates, and permanent representations to international organisations. The activities, composition, and size of each mission depend on its host country and region. Bilateral missions and their activities: Embassies and consulates – bilateral missions – concern themselves with relations between the Netherlands and other countries. They work in five areas: political affairs economic affairs development cooperation consular affairs press and cultural affairs. Embassies operate in all these areas, whereas consulates only handle economic and consular affairs and, on occasion, press and cultural affairs. In early 2004, the Netherlands had 154 missions abroad to which ministry personnel were attached: 110 embassies 27 consulates-general 15 permanent missions, delegations and representations to international organisations, including the UN, the EU, NATO, the OECD, the OPCW, and the OSCE One embassy office in Priština (Serbia and Montenegro) Representations in Ramallah (Palestinian Authority) and Kabul (Afghanistan). In many countries, the embassies are assisted by consular missions headed by unpaid honorary consuls – 360 of them worldwide. And in 16 countries, the embassies are assisted by economic support offices. The Ministry's headquarters also houses the Permanent Representation to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is based in The Hague. Political affairs Embassies monitor and analyse their host country’s domestic and foreign policies and the political trends they reflect. They report to The Hague about local developments likely to affect the Netherlands directly or indirectly. The detail and frequency of their bulletins will depend on the host country’s political and economic importance to the Netherlands and its position in its region or the world. A bulletin may be about security, the economy, the environment or human rights in the host country. The embassies also explain Dutch policy to their host country and take part in multilateral negotiations – and they sometimes help conduct international peace and security operations in which the Netherlands is taking part. European Union Cooperation between the missions of the EU member states is a separate subject. These bilateral missions maintain close ties and harmonise policies and standpoints under the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy. Economic affairs Embassies and consulates promote Dutch economic interests, working with two branches of the Ministry of Economic Affairs: the Directorate-General for Foreign Economic Relations (BEB) and the Netherlands Foreign Trade Agency (EVD). Dutch economic policy aims to make the Netherlands more competitive. The missions help by promoting Dutch trade in their host countries. They also report to The Hague about their host country’s investment climate, trade and economic policies, and trends in markets of potential interest to Dutch exporters. Companies Embassies and consulates promote the interests of individual Dutch companies doing business in their host country. They help solve practical problems encountered by companies lacking local knowledge, and they organise promotional activities like group business trips and networking meetings. The environment Embassies work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the field of the environment. Their main task is to help develop an international environment policy, which requires painstaking preparation and wide-ranging international discussions. Development cooperation In countries receiving aid, the embassies play an important part in organising and carrying out development activities. They help formulate a general approach, which is further worked out in multiyear regional or country policy plans. And they provide a channel for the Dutch and host country governments to talk about the whole range of development issues. Implementing development projects The embassies play an important part in implementing development projects. They are well placed to mobilise local capacity and expertise, and they benefit from having local knowledge – which is important in deciding whether a proposed project should be implemented by the host country government or a non-governmental organisation. The embassies are primarily responsible for choosing activities that qualify for development funding. They appraise the technical, managerial, and policy-related aspects of these activities, translating them into terms that the Ministry can assess. Once a project gets the go-ahead, the embassy is responsible for monitoring its implementation. Consular affairs Consular affairs involve protecting and promoting the interests of Dutch people abroad, whether they live there or are there temporarily for business or pleasure. Consulates are subordinate to embassies. They often represent the Netherlands in different parts of the same host country. Their work comprises consular, economic, and press and cultural affairs. Consular activities include: issuing passports; investigating the nationality of visa applicants; drawing up legal documents; issuing declarations; forwarding judicial documents; authenticating documents; visiting Dutch nationals in prison and ensuring that their rights are respected; informing relatives when a Dutch national has died, had an accident, or been admitted to hospital – and advising them what to do; liaising with local authorities in searches for missing persons. Visa applications The consulates’ handling of visa applications deserves separate mention. Their workload diminished when the Netherlands abolished visa requirements for some Central European nationals, but it grew again when the Schengen countries introduced visa stickers and tightened controls on their issue. The Schengen countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden) work closely together in carrying out visa policy. They lay down regulations specifying which embassies should process visa applications for visiting more than one Schengen country. Not all Schengen countries have embassies or consulates in every country in the world. They therefore sometimes issue visas on each other’s behalf. Asylum applications A growing consular activity is information gathering in countries whose nationals have applied for asylum in the Netherlands. For asylum applications to be processed, information has to be gathered and verified accurately – a task for which missions are responsible. They investigate facts and documents in individual cases and provide general information on the countries concerned. Efforts to counter illegal immigration and the growing misuse of asylum procedures have led to more cooperation between missions in three areas: tackling people smuggling, monitoring and registering flows of asylum seekers, and deporting failed asylum seekers. Press and cultural affairs Embassies and consulates promote cultural cooperation with the host country and provide public information about the Netherlands. They do so in close consultation with Dutch government bodies. Public information As well as providing public information about the Netherlands, the missions aim to foster interest and goodwill. With an array of promotional activities, they provide information with two objectives: to promote the export of Dutch goods, services and knowledge, and to attract investment, events and tourists to the Netherlands. Press relations Embassies and (more rarely) consulates, communicate with the local press to ensure fair and accurate reporting of the Netherlands, its standpoints, policies, and contribution to international efforts such as peacekeeping. They also correct information that is inaccurate or reflects badly on the Netherlands. Missions escort visiting Dutch journalists if required and maintain close links with those living in the host country. They also issue press releases to publicise visits by Dutch public figures. The network of missions in Europe The network of Dutch missions in Europe consists of 36 embassies plus the consulates subordinate to them. Bilateral missions in EU member countries As EU integration continues, Dutch bilateral missions in the other member states might be supposed to have less and less to do. In fact, the opposite is true. They still need to be capable of analysing the host country’s political situation, without which their bulletins would lack the necessary insight. And if the Netherlands were to reduce the capacity of these bilateral missions, it would find it harder both politically and administratively to explain its policies and if necessary make them acceptable. EU enlargement EU enlargement has made the preparatory bilateral activities that precede multilateral decision-making more important. It has also increased demand for the reporting of member states’ standpoints on EU decision-making, the implementation of EU decisions, and the monitoring of implementation. This means more work for Dutch bilateral missions in countries applying to join the EU, since the run-up to accession entails extra information gathering, lobbying, and preparation of common positions. Far from fading away, the bilateral missions in the EU member states and applicant countries will become more important in the future. Central and Eastern Europe Recent political developments have led to the birth of many new states in Central and Eastern Europe. The Netherlands is building relations with these countries and has opened embassies and consulates in some of them. Staffing of missions The Netherlands’ missions abroad are generally staffed by employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As other ministries’ policy areas have become more global, the embassies have employed more of their staff. Many embassies now employ technical attachés seconded from the Ministries of Defence, Economic Affairs, Agriculture, or Social Affairs. Head of mission Every Dutch mission has a head of mission. Depending on the type of mission, this may be an ambassador, a temporary or permanent chargé d’affaires, a consul-general, or a consul. An embassy is always headed by an ambassador and a consulate-general or consulate by a consul-general or a consul. In the absence of an ambassador, his or her deputy becomes the temporary chargé d'affaires. This post can be held by a person of any diplomatic rank. Some missions are always headed, for a variety of reasons, by a chargé d’affaires. Ranks and titles In diplomatic relations, titles are the customary means for a receiving state to identify an official: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Chargé d’affaires (and temporary chargé d’affaires) Minister Plenipotentiary Counsellor First Secretary Second Secretary Third Secretary Consul-General Consul Vice-Consul Attaché Head of Chancery Career and honorary consuls The Dutch government employs both career and honorary consuls. A career consul is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee who has been posted to a mission, whereas an honorary consul is recruited locally and is usually not a Dutch national. Most honorary consuls speak at least English, French, German or Spanish, and more than a third also speak Dutch. The “honorary” title means that the consul receives no salary – only the expenses they incur. They carry out almost the same activities as career consuls. Exceptions include issuing passports and Schengen visas, which only career consuls can do.