Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs

This Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders will celebrate World Humanitarian Day. This year, August 19 honors women humanitarians from around the world who rally to help people affected by crises.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders regrets the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The signature of the INF in 1987 was a milestone in nuclear disarmament. For more than thirty years, this treaty contributed to Euro-Atlantic security through the verifiable destruction of nearly 3,000 conventional and nuclear missiles.

Today, the UN Security Council (UNSC) Working Group on Children and Armed Conflicts, presided by Belgium since 1 January, adopted conclusions by consensus on the situation of children in the armed conflict in Myanmar. For the first time in a long time, the Security Council is sending out a strong signal about the situation in Myanmar and the violations of children's rights in particular. 

This morning, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders met with the national female grass hockey team in Wilrijk. His visit to the Red Panthers is part of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s “Blue Heart Campaign”, launched on July 2 and ending on July 30, the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

Karl Lagatie is the new spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. Since July 8th, he took over from Matthieu Branders who will soon be starting his new assignment as Consul General in São Paulo. As of today, Nadia Benini joins the team as deputy spokesperson.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders condemn the demolition on July 4th of three water tanks, 2500 trees and a fence as part of an OXFAM humanitarian project in Dukaika, south of Hebron, funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation. This project, which was completed in 2015-16, was designed to preserve pastures for livestock, a major source of income for 300 affected people.

Today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders opened the exhibition ‘Art & Diplomacy’ at the Egmont Palace. These annual summer exhibitions were initiated by the Minister eight years ago in order to reinforce our foreign policy through our cultural heritage.

Today the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflicts, presided by Belgium since 1 January, has adopted conclusions on the situation of children in the armed conflict in Syria. For the first time in a long time, the UN Security Council sent such a strong message on the situation in Syria, more in particular on the violations of children’s rights. The Security Council calls the ones responsible for those violations to order. Our country has led the negotiations on the recommendations that should prevent such violations.