Ambassador Paul Gulleik Larsen is a career diplomat with 27 years of international experience, including Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) postings in Belgrade (as Chargé d’affaires 1991-1994), in New York (as Counsellor for Norway in the UN Security Council 2001-2002), and in Moscow (as Deputy Head of Mission 2002-2007). 

Outside the MFA, Paul has served as diplomatic advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister of Norway in 1998-1999, and as Chief of Staff and Director at the UN World Food Program (WFP) in Rome 2007-2013. While at WFP, Paul sat in the Strategic Leadership Group and represented WFP in G8, G20 and UN inter-agency bodies. After returning to MFA in Oslo in 2013, Paul served in the UN Department as Project Director for policy and coordination of Agenda 2030/SDG and as Special Envoy for Security Council Affairs, responsible for strategy and policy for preparing Norway’s membership of the UN Security Council in 2021-22. 

Resident in Canberra since September 2018, Paul is responsible for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands. 

Paul has a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics and a B.A. from the University of Oslo. He received the French Ordre du Mérite Agricole during the French G20 presidency in 2011. Paul is fluent in English, manages in French, and understands Spanish and German.

In his presentation to the Wellington Branch, Canberra-based Ambassador Larsen will provide an overview of Norway's foreign policy priorities in 2021.

Please note, Old Government Buildings, Lecture Theatre 1 has wheelchair access.