Darja Bavdaž Kuret is a Slovenian diplomat, social scientist and woman’s right advocate. Her latest diplomatic appointment was Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the UN in New York from 2017-2021. 

Darja Bavdaž Kuret graduated with a Degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Ljubljana. From 1995 to 1999, she was Ambassador of Israel, including accreditation for the Palestinian Authorities. She then headed the department for Analyses and Planning at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs before serving as Ambassador to Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia (2002-2006). From 2006 to 2008, she was Secretary General of the Bled Strategic Forum organized by the Slovenian Foreign Ministry and the Center for European Perspective. In 2008, during Slovenia’s presidency of the European Union, she served as Chair of the EU Capital working group on Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Belarus. 

From 2009 to 20013, Bavdaž Kuret was Ambassador to Hungry and Bulgaria, before serving as Ambassador to India (2013-2015), including accreditation to Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka (2014-2015). She then returned to Slovenia where she was State Secretary from 2015-2017 responsible for multilateral affairs and development cooperation.