New political director appointed in the Foreign Ministry

Director General Vegard Ellefsen has been appointed Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with effect from 7 April 2008.

The Political Director’s portfolio includes key tasks related to policy development and coordination in important bilateral and multilateral foreign policy matters. It also includes responsibility for high-level foreign policy consultations with like-minded countries. The Political Director is part of the Ministry’s strategic leadership group. 

Vegard Ellefsen is taking over the position from Kai Eide, who has just taken up a new assignment as UN Special Representative for Afghanistan. Mr Ellefsen has headed the Department for Regional Affairs and Development since 2004. Previous to this he served as the Foreign Ministry’s special representative for the peace process in Sudan. Mr Ellefsen has broad experience from his many years in the Foreign Service, and has served at the Mission to the UN in New York, at the Embassy in Ottawa, as head of the Foreign Minister’s Secretariat, and at the Delegation to NATO in Brussels.