Adrian Monck, Managing Director, Head of Public Engagement: +41 (0)79 615 1671; adrian.monck@weforum.org
Geneva, Switzerland, 22 August 2014 – The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed the World Economic Forum’s Espen Barth Eide as the new Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus. Eide serves as Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum in Geneva. He will combine the UN assignment with his continued leadership of the Forum’s Centre for Global Strategies.
“I am honoured to be appointed to undertake this important role,” said Espen Barth Eide. “I look forward to helping to facilitate dialogue on the road to a negotiated, comprehensive settlement.”
Eide was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway (2012-2013). He also served in other senior positions over a decade in the Norwegian government, including Minister of Defence (2011-2012). He was a Senior Researcher and Research Director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, specializing in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, regional and global security issues. He has also been involved in a series of important UN-initiated best practices and reform processes.
Prof Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said: “Espen’s appointment underlines the Forum’s role as a trusted partner in the international system. Reconciliation in Cyprus is uniquely interwoven with the Forum’s own history. I recall in Davos in 1986 being able to bring together the Greek and Turkish prime ministers, Andreas Papandreou and Turgut Özal, for a historic meeting after years of tension and hostility. This will complement and strengthen his wider and continuing role here at the World Economic Forum, as Managing Director responsible for the Centre for Global Strategies.”
Notes to Editors
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