It should be no surprise, then, that in the two years since Foreign Policy magazine and the Washington-based Center for Global Development launched their Commitment to Development Index, which measures how much the world’s 21 richest countries help its poorest countries, the Netherlands has always ranked first. Few nations can match its mix of altruism, wealth and international awareness. The Dutch government gives the equivalent of $208 per citizen in aid to developing countries every year, compared with the U.S. government’s $47. Moreover, each Dutch person on average privately donates $14.60 a year, dwarfing Japan’s $1.46. The Netherlands also leads the way in foreign investment to developing countries, thanks largely to government-subsidized political-risk insurance to firms willing to set up camp in volatile nations recovering from war. Between 2000 and 2002, aid agencies in the Netherlands gave $201 million to Tanzania alone–funding 83 separate projects. At the beginning of April this year, the government pledged $100 million in aid to Afghanistan.
The Netherlands’ commitment to poor countries goes past the usual benchmarks of foreign aid, trade and investment. Dutch money is also earmarked for refugee needs and peacekeeping budgets, as well as environmental and technological projects in developing nations. The Dutch even have an office on policy coherence, something not many governments have. David Roodman, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development, explains: “The [Dutch] try to think of all of their policies as development policies… Very few governments do that.”
Holland’s motives are not completely altruistic. Otto Genee, the director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Policy Coherence Unit, says that establishing corporate footholds in developing countries–which stand to have exponential economic growth when they get on track–will be “very valuable” to Dutch companies in the long run. Dutch exports to India were up by 24 million (4.67 percent) in 2003 compared with 2002–to 535 million. The Dutch government also gives aid to some developing countries in the form of “export credits” that allow them to buy goods at reasonable prices from specific Dutch firms. Clearly the merchant and the vicar can sometimes work hand in hand.
