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Geoffrey van Leeuwen
Geoffrey van Leeuwen
	Van Leeuwen in December 2023
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
	Acting
	In office; 4 December 2023 – 15 April 2024
Preceded by	Liesje Schreinemacher
Succeeded by	Liesje Schreinemacher
Ambassador of the Netherlands to Afghanistan
	In office; 2016–2018
Preceded by	Henk Jan Bakker
Succeeded by	Ernst Noorman
Personal details
Born	Geoffrey E.W. van Leeuwen; 7 February 1971 (age 53); The Hague, Netherlands
Political party	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Alma mater	Leiden University (LL.M.); Cambridge University (MPhil);
Occupation	Diplomat; civil servant;

Geoffrey van Leeuwen (born 7 February 1971) is a Dutch diplomat and civil servant who served as acting Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation between December 2023 and April 2024 during the maternity leave of Liesje Schreinemacher. He has also been the ambassador of the Netherlands to Afghanistan.

Biography

Van Leeuwen was born in 1971 in The Hague and attended the Stedelijk Gymnasium secondary school in Haarlem. In 1988, Van Leeuwen went to the University of Leiden where he obtained an LL.M. degree in civil law in 1994, and in 1993 he also studied constitutional law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He then moved on to the University of Cambridge, obtaining his M.Phil. degree in international affairs in 1995. After completing the conscription as an officer of the Royal Netherlands Army, he held positions in several embassies and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[3]

In 2012 and 2013, Van Leeuwen was part of the management team of an integrated police training mission by the Dutch government in the Afghan province of Kunduz during the war in that country. He subsequently worked as the consul-general of the Dutch consulate-general in Mumbai, and he was appointed ambassador to Afghanistan in 2016.^[3]^[4] He returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague in 2018 to serve as Director Middle East and North Africa.^[3]

Van Leeuwen became a counselor to Prime Minister Mark Rutte on foreign affairs and defense issues at his Ministry of General Affairs in October 2020.^[3]^[4] On 4 December 2023, he was sworn in by King Willem-Alexander as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation as a result of the maternity leave of Liesje Schreinemacher, who became the first Dutch minister in history to take such a leave. Van Leeuwen is a member of the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).^[4]^[5] Schreinemacher returned to the position on 15 April 2024.^[6] When Mark Rutte, formerly Prime Minister of the Netherlands, became Secretary General of NATO in October 2024, Van Leeuwen joined him to Brussels as director of his private office.^[7]^[8]

References

^ "Henk Jan Bakker". Government of the Netherlands (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ "Ernst Noorman". Government of the Netherlands (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Geoffrey van Leeuwen". Government of the Netherlands. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Minister Schreinemacher tijdens zwangerschap vervangen door Geoffrey van Leeuwen" [Minister Schreinemacher replaced by Geoffrey van Leeuwen during maternity leave]. NOS (in Dutch). 30 November 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ "Geoffrey van Leeuwen to become Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation". Government of the Netherlands (Press release). 30 November 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
^ "Liesje Schreinemacher keert terug als minister voor Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking" [Liesje Schreinemacher returns as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation]. Government of the Netherlands (Press release) (in Dutch). 15 April 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
^ Brouwers, Arnout (1 October 2024). "Oliemannetje Mark Rutte zal vanaf nu heel goed op zijn woorden moeten letten" [Fixer Mark Rutte will have to be very careful with his words from now on]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 October 2024.
^ "Geoffrey van Leeuwen". NATO. Retrieved 2 October 2024.