Ambassador Van Der Kwast has beenappointed Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands to the Slovak Republic in November 2017. He previously served as Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the Conference on Disarmament and Disarmament Ambassador at large (2013 – 2017). During his service in this capacity he had a number of high-rank appointments such as Chair of the Conference on Disarmament, Deputy Chair on Disarmament at the 2015 NPT Rev Con, Chair of the First Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Rev Con.
From 2006-2011 he was Head of the Non-Proliferation, Disarmament, Arms Control and Export Control Policy Unit at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In such capacity Henk Cor van der Kwast has represented the Netherlands as Head of Delegation or alternative at a number of international meetings, including the UN GA, the NPT PrepCom and RevCon (2010), the General Conference and Board of Government of the IAEA, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT). He chaired the non-proliferation group of the European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) in Brussels. In 2010 he served as Sous-Sherpa for the Nuclear Security Summit.
He holds a degree in Contemporary History and studied International Law at Groningen University and a degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).