Margot Wallström, a Swedish Social Democratic Party politician and diplomat, was appointed minister for foreign affairs in October 2014.

Ms. Wallström previously served as European commissioner for the environment from 1999 to 2004 and as first vice president of the European Commission, responsible for institutional relations and communication strategy, from 2004 to 2009. From 2010 to 2012, she was the special representative of the United Nations secretary general on sexual violence in conflict.

Ms. Wallström has served as chair of the board of Lund University, chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, and as a board member of the Stockholm-based Global Challenges Foundation. She was chair of the board of advisers of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in 2014, having previously served as a member of the board from 2011 to 2014.

In 1998, she retired from Swedish politics to become Executive Vice-President of Worldview Global Media – an NGO based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The following year she was appointed as Member of the European Commission, under President Romano Prodi, and given responsibility for EU environmental policy. In 2004, when the Barroso Commission took office, she became Commission Vice- President with responsibility for Inter-institutional Relations and Communication.

Ms. Wallström has received honorary doctorates from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the United States, and Umeå University, Mälardalen University and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

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