Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utenriksdepartementet) was established on June 7, 1905 - the same day the Norwegian Parliament decided to dissolve the union with Sweden.
The Ministry is currently headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre and Minister of International Development Erik Solheim. They have been cabinet ministers in the red-green coalition government headed by prime minister Jens Stoltenberg since October 17, 2005.
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[edit] Organisation
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is organised with 104 foreign missions and the subordinate Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). The Ministry and foreign missions have a total staff of approx. 2200.
[edit] The Political level
Unlike most Norwegian ministries the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has two ministers as head of the organisation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is head of most policy areas and the administrative areas while the Minister of International Development heads the policy areas connected with internationoal development. Some departments in the ministry thus report to both ministers.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Jonas Gahr Støre)
- Three State Secretaries (Kjetil Skogrand, Raymond Johansen and Liv Monica Bargem Stubholt)
- Political Advisor (Gry Larsen)
- Secretariat of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Communication Unit
- Legal Adviser
Minister of International Development (Mr Erik Solheim)
- State Secretary (Anne Margareth Fagertun Stenhammer)
- Political Advisor (Torbjørn Urfjell)
- Secretariat of the Minister of International Development
- Head of Information
- Analytical Unit
[edit] The Operational level
The top public servant is the Secretary General (utenriksråd) with an Assistant Secretary General as substitute (the latter also with a special responsibility for international development issues).
The Ministry was reorganised on June 19, 2006 - and currently has eight departments, each headed by a Director General (ekspedisjonssjef):
- Department for European Affairs and Trade Policy
- Department for Security Policy and the High North
- Department for Regional Affairs and Development
- Department for UN, Peace and Humanitarian Affaris
- Legal Affairs Department
- Promotion and Protocol Department
- Human and Financial Resources Department
- Internal and External Services Department
