His Excellency Knut Vollebaek. Ambassador of Norway to the United States
&
His Excellency Jan Kenneth Eliasson, Ambassador of Sweden to the United States, President elect of the United Nations Assembly.
Place: Memorial Union, Main Lounge, 800 Langdon St., Madison, WI
Time: 10am
The Ambassadors are traveling across the United States in 2005 on the 100th anniversary of the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden. Ambassadors Vollebaek and Eliasson will discuss their experiences and insights in foreign affairs and the United Nations. They will present perspectives of two small countries that played a key role and continue to be proactive in the peaceful resolution of some of the world’s complex and most difficult conflicts.
Norway.
His Excellency Knut Vollebaek has been Ambassador of Norway to the U.S. since 2001. Previously he served as Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and chaired the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), serving as a key negotiator during the Kosovo war. He has also served in India, Spain and Zimbabwe and was Ambassador to the Central American States, resident in Costa Rica. He has held numerous positions with the United Nations, including Deputy Co-chair of the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia, rapporteur to the Anti-Apartheid Committee of the ILO in Geneva and Director of United Nations Affairs. He has served as a member of the UW-Madison Dean of International Studies Advisory Board since 2003.
Sweden.
His Excellency Jan Kenneth Eliasson has been Sweden’s Ambassador to the U.S. since 2000 but early in his career was an exchange student in the United States.
Prior to assuming his current position, he was Sweden’s Deputy Secretary of State, a key position in Swedish foreign policy. Ambassador Eliasson has served in Paris, Bonn, Washington and Zimbabwe, and has held high positions in the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm. He served with Olof Palme in the United Nations and as the Secretary-General’s personal representative during the Iran-Iraq conflict. He concurrently served as Sweden’s Ambassador to the United Nations and has worked extensively with U.N. Humanitarian Affairs. Ambassador Eliasson is the President elect of the United Nations General Assembly for its sixtieth session, the first time this position has been held by a Swede.
Co-Sponsors:
–The UW-Madison Division of International Studies.
–Wisconsin Honorary Consulates of Norway and Sweden.
Contact:
Christine Merritt, Communications, Division of International Studies, UW-Madison
Phone: (608) 262-5590, or E-mail: cmerritt@wisc.edu;