Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock received her Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra in Berlin as part of the closely coordinated approach among EU and NATO partners in the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine. The two Foreign Ministers had already held close discussions about this matter in recent weeks. The common objective of all partners is and remains the defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Foreign Minister Baerbock said the following in her opening statement:

The coalition agreements of the two newly elected governments in The Hague and Berlin have many commonalities and overlaps on key issues for the future – on climate and energy issues as well as on the pro‑European further development of the EU single market, economic and monetary union and foreign trade. Statistics have shown time and again that the Netherlands is an important trading partner for Germany in the European Union. Furthermore, cooperation in the common border region along their shared border is also closer than almost anywhere else in Europe. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, this has been further strengthened by the establishment of the Cross-Border Task Force Corona with the participation of Belgium.

The agenda of the first meeting between Minister Hoekstra and Minister Baerbock included other bilateral, European and international issues, also against the backdrop of the German-Dutch intergovernmental consultations scheduled to take place this year.