Baron Berend-Jan Marie van Voorst tot Voorst (born 7 February 1944) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. Van Voorst tot Voorst worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from July 1968 until September 1972 and as a diplomat for the Directorate-General for External Relations of the European Commission in Brussels from September 1972 until May 1985. Van Voorst tot Voorst worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Economic Affairs as Director-General of the department for Foreign Trade from May 1985 until September 1988. Van Voorst tot Voorst was appointed as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet Lubbers II following the resignation of René van der Linden, taking office on 27 september 1988. Va