Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson new Permanent Secretary of State
Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, has appointed Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson as Permanent Secretary of State, from 1 November. Einar Gunnarsson, who has served in the position since 2009 will take over as Iceland‘s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York on 1 January 2015.
Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson is an experienced diplomat and negotiator. He was Chief Negotiator in Iceland's accession talks with the European Union 2009-2013. He served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva, was Ambassador to the EU, Belgium, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, was Chairman of the Working Group on Russia's accession to the WTO, and served as Director of the External Trade Department and the Department of Administration at the Ministry. In 2014 he has been Team Leader with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.
Einar Gunnarsson is an experienced diplomat. Before taking over as Permanent Secretary of State in 2009, he was Chief Negotiator at the Department of International Trade Negotiations and Director of Human Resources as well as serving in Brussels and Geneva.
