2023
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for Norwegian foreign policy, the promotion of Norway’s interests internationally and the foreign service, which includes more than 100 embassies, permanent missions and delegations, and consulates general.
Ms Huitfeldt comes from Jessheim, Norway, and has a Master’s Degree with specialisation in History. She has worked as a researcher at the research foundation FAFO. She has been particularly engaged in efforts to promote security policy, equality and climate. Hobbies include running, cross-country skiing, literature and theatre.
From 2013 to 2021 Ms Huitfeldt chaired the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. She was Minister of Labour from 2012 to 2013, Minister of Culture from 2009 to 2012 and Minister of Children and Equality from 2008 to 2009. She was elected to the Storting (Norwegian parliament) in 2005 and has been a member since then.
Ms Huitfeldt is married and has three children.
Political appointments
2021– Minister of Foreign Affairs
2013–2021 Chair of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence
2013–2021 Chair of the Parliament’s Enlarged Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee
2012–2013 Minister of Labour
2009–2012 Minister of Culture
2008–2009 Minister of Children and Equality
2005–2009 Vice Chair of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Education and Research
2005– Member of the Storting
Political positions
2019– Member of the Board of The Progressive Alliance
2019– Leader of Akershus Labour Party
2017– Member of the Board of The Party of European Socialists (PES)
2007–2019 Head of the Norwegian Labour Party women’s network
2002– Member of the Labour Party Central Executive Committee
1999–2000 Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth
1996–2000 President of the Labour Youth League (AUF)
Other posts
2001–2005 Member of the Board of Save the Children Norway
2000–2005 Researcher, FAFO
Dixson-Decleve also sits on several Non-Executives & Advisory Boards including EDP, BMW, UCB Climate KIC, Leonardo Centre, Imperial College London and is a Senior Associate and faculty member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), an Ambassador, for the Energy Transition Commission (ETC) and the Well Being Alliance (WeAll) and a Fellow of the World Academy of Science & Art.
Sandrine is a TED global speaker and recently published “Quel Monde Pour Demain” lucpire editions and Earth for All: A survival guide for humanity, New Society.
She was recognised most recently by Reuters as one of 25 global female trailblazers and by GreenBiz as one of the 30 most influential women across the globe driving change in the low carbon economy and promoting green business.
Prof. C. Raja Mohan is a Senior Fellow with the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi. Earlier he was the Director of Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and currently a Visiting Research Professor there. Prof Mohan taught South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Professor Mohan is one of India’s leading commentators on India’s foreign policy. He has been associated with a number of think tanks such as the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, the Centre for Policy Research and the Observer Research Foundation. He was also the founding director of Carnegie India, New Delhi. He was the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in International Affairs at the United States Library of Congress, Washington DC, from 2009 to 2010. He served on India’s National Security Advisory Board. He led the Indian Chapter of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from 1999 to 2006.
He writes a regular column for the Indian Express and was earlier the Strategic Affairs Editor for The Hindu newspaper, Chennai. Among his recent books is Samudra Manthan: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific (2013) and Modi’s World: Expanding India’s Sphere of Influence (2015).
Maryna Saprykina is Chairwoman for CSR Ukraine, a non-profit organization in Ukraine.
She is a board member for SOS Children’s Village Ukraine.
A certified expert in sustainability, BHR and D&I, a fellow of WBCSD LEAD Program for women-leaders in sustainability (2023).
She holds an Executive MBA Degree (Sheffield, UK).
An author of the 5-component war time sustainability model for companies.
In 2022, as a response to the full-fledgedinvasion, launched a U&WeHub, a program for Ukrainian displaced women with the goal to help 10000 women to start or restart their social businesses.
Saprykina won the Nordic Business Forum Speaker Contest earlier this year (2023).
Vidar Helgesen is Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.
He has held several public positions in the Norwegian government, as Special Representative for the Ocean, Minister of Climate and Environment, Minister of European Affairs and Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, as well as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He is a Board member of CICERO Center for International Climate Research and Norfund/The Norwegian Climate Investment Fund.
Internationally, he has served as Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and Special Advisor to the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He has been vice chair of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, is co-chair of the Advisory Board for the UN Decade for Ocean Science and member of the Strategic Council of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Helgesen will take part of the panel discussion at Global Outlook 2023.
Georg E. Riekeles is Associate Director at the Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre (EPC). Prior to joining the EPC, he spent eleven years in the European Commission, the last five as diplomatic adviser with responsibilities for strategy in the EU-UK Brexit negotiations. He has also worked on trade, digital and single market polices, as well as security and defence issues, in the Commission’s in-house think tank and policy planning unit and as adviser to the Commission Vice-President for Internal market. He also has EU policy experience from the French Ministry of Foreign affairs and other government departments.
Before joining the EPC, Riekeles served as diplomatic adviser to the EU’s Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier and Head of strategy, media and diplomatic relations in the European Commission’s Task force for EU-UK negotiations.
Previously, Riekeles was an adviser for security and defence at the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), the European Commission’s in-house think tank. In that capacity he helped initiate and develop Commission initiatives in the areas of defence as part of President Juncker’s programme, and worked on EU-NATO relations.
He also served as member of cabinet to Commission Vice-President and commissioner Michel Barnier in the period 2010-2014, working on single market reforms, industrial and digital policies, as well as inter-institutional relations in the context of the post-financial crisis regulatory agenda.
Before moving to Belgium, Riekeles worked in the French Ministry of Foreign and European affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, as well as in the private and non-profit sectors in France.
Riekeles holds a master’s degree in political science from l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and studied economics and philosophy at the London School of Economics.
He appears and writes regularly in international media such as the Financial Times, the Economist, Project Syndicate and the Guardian, in addition to Brussels-based media and press.
Riekeles will take part of the panel discussion at Global Outlook 2023.
Sofie Høgestøl is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oslo. She is also a Deputy Member of Parliament for the Liberal party and an active commentator of international politics in Norwegian media.
Sofie Høgestøl will take part of the panel discussion at Global Outlook 2023.