Mirte Ruesen

Mirte Ruesen is a Senior Policy Advisor on Sustainable Production and Trade, responsible for the cocoa sector. The cocoa sector is one of the priority sectors within the Dutch policy on Sustainable Value Chains, and she works on thematic issues like living income, eradicating child labour & deforestation, and public‐private partnerships. Mrs. Ruesen represents the Dutch government in the Dutch multistakeholder Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (DISCO).

Before joining this field almost 5 years ago, she worked as a diplomat at the political department of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Madrid, Spain. Before her posting in Spain, Mrs Ruesen worked at the Trade Department of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focusing on Responsible Business Conduct of international trade. Before joining the Ministry, she worked in the private as well as public sector on sustainable trade programs, focusing mostly on Latin America.

Next to a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, she holds a Master’s degree in Environment and Resource Management and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam. Her ambition is to facilitate public and private sector solutions and collaboration to solve economic and development challenges.