Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders is pleased that the European Union created a sanction regime against the use of chemical weapons today in Luxembourg. This allows the EU to act against people and organization involved in the development and the use of chemical weapons. This decision by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, underlines the European commitment to the fight against these gruesome weapons.

Speech by Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo on the occasion of the celebration of Marleen Temmerman.

Today is the European and World Day against the Death Penalty. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders underlines that Belgium continues to engage for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty. The Minister regrets that a number of countries continue to use the death penalty, even for specific forms of conduct such as blasphemy, adultery and same-sex sexual relations. The death penalty has no place in the 21st century.

In October and November 2018, the Belgian development agency Enabel organizes ‘Hack the Goals’, a series of six hackathons in five partner countries of the Belgian Development Cooperation. Creative teams in Senegal, Niger, Palestine, Morocco, and Uganda will look for new and innovative solutions for development challenges. Alexander De Croo, Minister of Development Cooperation and for the Digital Agenda, is thrilled: “The future is digital, also in terms of development. The digital revolution offers so many new opportunities to solve development challenges in a different and better way.”

“We have to tackle climate change at home, but we must certainly not forget the poorest countries. They are the biggest victims of climate change.” That is the message of Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo and of Enabel director Jean Van Wetter. Today and tomorrow, the Belgian development agency Enabel organizes an international climate conference in Brussels. More than 170 participants from Belgium and from abroad will debate on plans to integrate climate change into the development strategies of secondary cities, including cities in the partner countries of the Belgian development cooperation.

The Inter-Ministerial Conference on Foreign Affairs decided today, under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Didier Reynders, to establish a technical working group to discuss uncertainties pertaining to the status of some Belgian schools abroad - including Belgian schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This working group will be composed of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the Communities. Other departments of the federal administration will also be associated.

On Tuesday 2nd of October, Belgium had proposed first help and support to Indonesia via B-FAST. Local technical requirements described by Indonesia, as wel as related organisational requirements, do not allow however to be able to carry out the proposed mission properly.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders welcome the attribution of the Nobel peace prize to the Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege and the Yazidi Nadia Murad, a victim of the cruelties of Daesh who has become the torchbearer of her community. Both Dr Mukwege and Nadia Murad, two leading figures with whom Belgium had the chance to work closely, dedicated their lives to the fight against sexual violences used as “weapons of war” in conflicts.