Edmond van Eetvelde ( 21 April 1852 – 8 December 1925) was a Belgian diplomat and first General Administrator of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Independent State of the Congo.

[1] He is also famous for commissioning the Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta in 1898 to build the Hôtel van Eetvelde, his private residence in Brussels.

Although Auguste, Baron Lambermont, was the principal adviser to the king, van Eetvelde exercised important powers not only in foreign affairs but also in matters of justice and worship.

From May 1885, Leopold II considered that the facade constituted by the International Association of the Congo was no longer necessary after the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885.

[3] In 1887 van Eetvelde intervened in the delicate negotiations between France and the Congo Free State to fix its northern and western borders.

[4] In 1888 van Eetvelde defended the interests of the Congo Free State in front of José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal who claimed the territories of the former Kingdom of Lunda for the colony of Angola.

The Belgian government asked van Eetvelde for precise information on the financial situation of the Congo Free State.

In 1897 van Eetvelde made every effort to make a success of the colonial exhibition in Tervuren at the Royal Museum for Central Africa.