Sigrid Kaag

Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag (born 2 November 1961) is a Dutch politician, humanitarian and diplomat.

She was the leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) and served as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and as Minister of Finance.

Kaag was born on 2 November 1961 in Rijswijk as the second daughter of Frans Kaag and Agnes Kaag-Robben.

Her father, who was a classical pianist and music teacher, was originally from Wervershoof, while her mother, a primary school teacher, was from Arnhem.

The family settled in Zeist, where Kaag grew up.

One of her brothers died when Kaag was six.

After completing her secondary education, she initially studied Arabic at Utrecht University, but later switched to The American University in Cairo where she obtained a B.A. degree in Middle East Studies in 1985.

She subsequently obtained an M.Phil. degree in International Relations from St Antony's College, Oxford in 1987 and an M.A. degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Exeter in 1988.

She also received foreign relations training at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, and studied at the French École nationale d'administration (ENA).

Kaag began her professional career in 1988 as an analyst for Royal Dutch Shell in London, United Kingdom.

In 1990, she started working for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she was the deputy head of the department of United Nations political affairs.

A diplomat by occupation, Kaag started working for the United Nations in 1994.

Kaag started working for the United Nations in 1994 and first served as Senior United Nations Adviser in the Office of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Khartoum, Sudan.

From 1998 to 2004, she was Chief of Donor Relations for the International Organization for Migration and Senior Programme Manager with the External Relations Office of UNRWA in Jerusalem.

Working in the Middle East she was responsible for areas as the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.

She was Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF in Amman from 2007 to May 2010, when she was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of External Relations of the UNDP in New York.

From 2007 to May 2010, Kaag was Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF in Amman.

In May 2010, she was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy of the United Nations Development Programme in New York.

In this capacity, she was the deputy to Helen Clark and oversaw UNDP's strategic external engagement, organization-wide communication and advocacy, as well as resource mobilization.

From October 2013 to September 2014, she served as Under Secretary-General and Special Coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria to oversee the elimination of the country's chemical weapons program.

On 13 October 2013, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon nominated Kaag to lead the OPCW-UN Joint Mission for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.

The United Nations Security Council was set to vote on her nomination three days later, on 16 October.

She was then officially confirmed for the position.

Kaag led a team of one hundred experts who were responsible for ensuring the elimination of Syria's chemical weapon stockpiles before 30 June 2014.

By the end of her term in September 2014, news media reported that Kaag was rumored to succeed Lakhdar Brahimi as UN Special Envoy to Syria.

On 1 December 2014, the UN Secretary General Ban announced that Kaag would become the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), succeeding Sir Derek Plumbly.

From January 2015 to October 2017, Kaag was the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL).

Kaag entered Dutch politics in 2017 as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in the third Rutte cabinet on behalf of D66.

She ascended to party leadership ahead of the 2021 general election and also served for some months as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

When the fourth Rutte cabinet was formed in January 2022, Kaag became First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

She decided not to run for re-election in 2023 and was succeeded by Rob Jetten as party leader.

Kaag resigned as minister in January 2024 to return to the United Nations as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza.

In early 2017, Kaag was considered by international media to be one of the candidates to succeed Helen Clark as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and head of the United Nations Development Group; the post eventually went to Achim Steiner.

Following the 2017 Dutch government formation, Kaag was asked for a ministerial post by D66 leader Alexander Pechtold.

She was installed as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation on 26 October 2017.

After the resignation of Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra on 13 February 2018, she was appointed ad interim to succeed him while conserving her other cabinet position.

Kaag was consequently the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

She was replaced by Stef Blok as Foreign Minister on 7 March 2018.

From 2018 to 2022, Kaag served on the joint World Bank–WHO Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), co-chaired by Elhadj As Sy and Gro Harlem Brundtland.

In 2019, she joined the World Economic Forum High-Level Group on Humanitarian Investing, co-chaired by Børge Brende, Kristalina Georgieva and Peter Maurer.