Akiko Muto is a partnership officer responsible for the Asian and Pacific region at IFAD. Muto liaises with her counterparts to achieve IFAD’s mission to transform rural economies and food systems. She is in charge of deepening corporate-level collaboration with key stakeholders and provides an interface for environmental scanning, knowledge exchange, resource mobilization, and policy influence in the region.

Prior to joining IFAD in 2020, Muto had a long career in the Government of Japan, starting from policy formulation and implementation regarding the food and agricultural field to participating in multilateral and bilateral discussions including RBAs, OECD, WTO, and FTA negotiations.

She has a Master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Master’s degree in economics from Seoul National University and a Bachelor degree in agriculture from the University of Tokyo.