Sigrid Kaag profile 800 600 womanleader GWLvoices
Her voice

 “The COVID-19 pandemic has an outsized negative impact on women and girls. Securing their rights, especially through the promotion of gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights, must be at the heart of our efforts to build back better.”

 

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BIO

Ms. Kaag is Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs (since May 2021), also responsible for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation (holding the post of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation from October 2017 onwards).

At the same time, she has been at the head of the Dutch political party Democrats 66 (D66) since 4 September 2020, leading D66 to a historic result in the March 2021 parliamentary elections, when it came in second with 15% of the vote.

Previously, Sigrid Kaag served as, among other positions, Under-Secretary-General in Lebanon with responsibility for all UN activities in the country; as UN Under-Secretary-General leading the mission to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria; as Assistant-Secretary-General for UNDP in New York; and as UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa in Amman. Ms. Kaag holds an MA in Middle East Studies (University of Exeter), an MPhil in International Relations (Oxford University) and a BA in Middle East Studies (American University in Cairo).