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Carl Bildt Carl Bildt is a former prime minister of Sweden (1991-1994), and recently (1999-2001) served as the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Balkans. His involvement with Balkan affairs stretches back to the spring of 1995 when he succeeded Lord Owen as the EU Special Representative to the Former Yugoslavia and Co-Chairman of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia. See his article on HCS, "The World Cannot Tolerate a Divided Cyprus." While Prime Minister of Sweden, he negotiated Sweden's accession to the European Union, signing the agreement in June 1994, and undertook far reaching liberalization and structural reforms to improve the competitiveness of Sweden and modernize its old-style welfare system. His career in politics has ranged from the Chairmanship of the Moderate Student Association and then the European Democratic Students in the early 1970s, to the leadership of the Moderate Party of Sweden from 1986 to 1999. He served as member of Parliament between 1979 and 2001. Carl Bildt has had wide experience in foreign and security affairs, serving on or leading a number of official governmental commissions. He has also been associated with international organizations and serves on the advisory boards of the Centre for European Reform (London), the Aspen Institute Italia (Rome), RAND Europe, the Council of the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. He has received appointments from the European Space Agency, and has been active in the promotion of new technologies, chairing the IT Commission. Mr. Bildt, furthermore, worked with the business sector: he chaired the Nordic Venture Network which brings together venture capital firms in the Nordic countries and served as a consultant for the Swedish financial group Ohmans. In the United States, he serves as the first non-US member ever of the Board of Trustees of RAND (www.rand.org). He is also Senior International Adviser to Akin Gump Global Solutions of the Washington-based law firm (www.akingump.com) and a member of the Board of the global asset management company Legg Mason (www.leggmason.com). Mr. Bildt has authored a number of published works, in addition to producing his own newsletter in Swedish on international affairs (bildt.net): Landet som steg ut i kylan - The Country that Stepped out into the Cold (1972), En Framtid Frihet- A Future in Freedom (1976), Hallänning - Svensk - Europé - A Citizen of Halland, Sweden and Europe (1991), Den enda Vägen - The Only Way (1994) and Uppdrag Fred - Peace Journey (1997). Carl Bildt is the holder of various senior honours and decorations from France (Commander of the Legion d'Honneur), Germany (Grosses Bundesverdienstkreuz), the United Kingdom (KCMG, Honorary Knighthood), Estonia and Latvia. He also has an honorary degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where he is a Fellow at its Institute for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. |
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