Margriet Kuster is a Senior Policy Advisor in the International Cooperation Bureau of the Directorate General for International Cooperation at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She was trained as a historian at Leiden University and then worked as an expert in research and advocacy for various NGOs in the Netherlands on a broad range of themes including trade, aid for trade, primary commodities, monetary and financial policies, debt, agricultural policies, human rights and research for development.
Margriet has been working as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1999. She spent six years in the Department for Economic Development where she worked on trade and development, WTO negotiations, intellectual property protection, aid for trade and policy coherence for development. She has also worked in the Human Rights Division on subjects such as the right to safe drinking water and links between the MDGs and human rights and, in her work in the Research and Education Division of the Social Development Department, she has been involved in agricultural innovation systems and research for development.
Margriet has been closely involved in setting up the five Knowledge Platforms at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, particularly the Knowledge Platform on Development Policies.