The Netherlands is a founding member of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which was established in 1945 and initially helped to rebuild Europe after the war. The Netherlands was among the first to get loans. These helped to rebuild the economy, to modernize and expand the Royal Dutch Airlines fleet and to replenish the working capital of the ‘Reconstruction Bank’ (Herstelbank). Today, the Netherlands is member of the five institutions that form the World Bank Group.

The Netherlands’ Governors
The World Bank is like a cooperative, where its 185 member countries are shareholders. The shareholders are represented by a Board of Governors, who are the ultimate policy makers at the World Bank. The Netherlands is represented on the Board of Governors by Finance Minister Wouter Bos. The Netherlands’ Alternate Governor is Mr Bert Koenders, Minister for Development Cooperation.

The Netherlands’ Executive Director
Because the governors only meet annually, they delegate specific duties to 24 Executive Directors, who work on-site at the Bank. The Netherlands shares its Board representation with Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. The group is led by Executive Director Mr. Ruud Treffers.

The Netherlands’ desk at the World Bank
The Netherlands’ desk is responsible for the World Bank's dialogue with Dutch constituencies including government officials, parliamentarians, academia and think-tanks, CSO representatives, business and media contacts.