Mr. Koenders joined the World Bank Group in 2019 as the Special Envoy on Fragility. Currently, he focuses on supporting the World Bank in strengthening its engagement in Fragile States mainly in the Middle-East and Africa regions. Mr. Koenders holds the Kooijmans Chair at the University of Leiden.
During the first half of 2016 when the Netherlands held the Presidency of the Council of the EU, Mr. Koenders served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs until 2017 before which he was the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and headed the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast as the UNSG Special Representative. Mr. Koenders has previously held numerous positions, including being the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation from 2007 to 2010 (5 billion euros budget), Deputy Chairman of the Netherlands Atlantic Association, Member of the Supervisory Council of the Institute for Multiparty Democracy, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Member of the French-Dutch Cooperation Council, Founder of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF and served the Board of the International Crisis Group and was Commissioner of the International Commission of Missing Persons.
Mr. Koenders studied Political and Social Sciences, International Economics and African Studies at the Free University of Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and the Johns Hopkins University SAIS in Washington, DC.