Name: Ambassador Thorvald Stoltenberg
Title: Former Chairman of the Board of International IDEA
Education: A lawyer by training, Ambassador Stoltenberg took his first degree in 1957 and then studied International Law and International Relations in Austria, Switzerland, the USA and Finland.
Current and Previous Positions: President of the Norwegian Red Cross, former Foreign Minister and Minister of Defence, Norway and UN Special Representative in the former Yugoslavia Mr Stoltenberg worked for the Norwegian foreign service overseas in San Francisco (1959-61), Belgrade (1961-64) and Lagos (1970). He was State Secretary in the Foreign Ministry, in the Ministry of Defence and in the Ministry of Commerce and Shipping. Mr Stoltenberg was appointed Norwegian Ambassador to the UN in 1989. In 1990 he became UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In 1993 he was appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the former Yugoslavia and UN Co-Chairman of the Steering Committee of the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia. He was Norway's Ambassador to Denmark from 1996-1999 and is currently President of the Norwegian Red Cross.
