Agnes van Ardenne

In this Dutch name, the surname is Van Ardenne, not Ardenne.

Anna Maria Agnes "Agnes" van Ardenne-Van der Hoeven (born 21 January 1950) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).

Agnes van Ardenne
Van Ardenne in 2006
Mayor of Westland
In office 28 September 2017 – 18 December 2018 Ad interim
Preceded by	Sjaak van der Tak
Succeeded by	Bouke Arends
Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the FAO, IFAD and WFP
In office 1 April 2007 – 1 July 2011
Preceded by	Unknown
Succeeded by	Gerda Verburg
Minister for Development Cooperation
In office 27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Eveline Herfkens (2002)
Succeeded by	Bert Koenders
State Secretary for Foreign Affairs
In office 22 July 2002 – 27 May 2003 Serving with Atzo Nicolaï
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Dick Benschop
Succeeded by	Atzo Nicolaï
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 30 January 2003 – 27 May 2003
In office 17 May 1994 – 22 July 2002
Personal details
Born	Anna Maria Agnes van der Hoeven (1950-01-21) 21 January 1950 (age 75) Maasland, Netherlands
Political party	Christian Democratic Appeal (from 1980)
Other political affiliations	Catholic People's Party (until 1980)
Spouse	Jozef van Ardenne ​ (m. 1977)​
Occupation	Politician · Diplomat · Civil servant · Nonprofit director

Career

Agnes van Ardenne was born in Maasland in 1950. Before taking office as a member of the Cabinet of the Netherlands, she was the Deputy Chairwoman of the Netherlands-based Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid (CORDAID) and Secretary General of the UNICEF National Committee of the Netherlands.^{[citation needed]} While sitting in the House of Representatives between 1994 and 2002, she was a member of the parliament's delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).^{[citation needed]}

Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs of Gambia Famara Jatta and State Secretary Agnes van Ardenne at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., on 28 September 2002.

Between 2002 and 2007, van Ardenne served as Minister for Development Cooperation in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. When the Netherlands held the presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2004, she chaired the meetings of the EU Development Ministers.^{[citation needed]}

During her time in office, van Ardenne focused on fragile states and countries in conflict, including Sudan.^[1] She chose to concentrate Dutch bilateral development cooperation on Africa (at least 50% of the bilateral budget).^[2] In 2006, she ordered a suspension of nearly $150 million in aid to the government of President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya because of concerns over corruption.^[3]

Van Ardenne was one of the first foreign dignitaries to visit Pakistan after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, to witness the emergency aid operation still being conducted at full capacity.^[4]

In 2006, van Ardenne increased the Netherlands’ support to post-primary and higher education to 110 million euros per year from the earlier level of 60 million euros, and increased its contribution to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) to 150 million euros in 2006 and subsequent years.^[5]

Also in 2006, van Ardenne significantly increased the Dutch contribution to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), pledging nearly €100 million over four years for global vaccination and programmes to strengthen health systems.^[6] In what was the single largest earmarked donation UNICEF had received in its then 60-year history, van Ardenne later pledged $201 million over four years to expand the agency's ongoing efforts to ensure that children in conflict, natural disasters and emerging from crisis can go to school.^[7]

After leaving office, van Ardenne worked as her country’s Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome from 2007 until 2011. She was succeeded by Gerda Verburg.^{[citation needed]}

Between 2011 and 2014, van Ardenne served as chairwoman of the Dutch Product Board for Horticulture. Since 2017, she has been chairwoman of the Netherlands Inspection Service for Horticulture.^{[citation needed]}

Other activities

International organizations

• African Development Bank (AfDB), Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2003-2007)
• Asian Development Bank (ADB), Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2003-2007)^[8]
• World Bank, Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2003-2007)

Non-profit organizations

• African Studies Centre (ASC) at Leiden University, Chairwoman of the Board of Governors (since 2013)^[9]
• Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI), Member (since 2012)^[10]
• Van Hall Larenstein, President of the Supervisory Board
• Marga Klompé Foundation, Chairwoman of the Board

Political positions

On 30 March 2012, van Ardenne and several other prominent CDA members, including former Prime Ministers Ruud Lubbers and Piet de Jong, signed a petition of disapproval on the proposed cuts to the budget of international development by the first cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Decorations

Honours

Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	11 April 2007