Garden City, NY - November 9, 2015 - On Thursday, November 19, 2015, Ib Petersen will deliver the talk, “Denmark—Small State Actor with Big Global Engagement” as part of the Ambassador Lecture Series and International Education Week celebration. Ambassador Petersen currently serves as Denmark’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations. This event, co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and the International Leadership Coordinating Committee, will take place at 11:00 a.m. at the Angello Alumni House, 154 Cambridge Avenue, Garden City, NY. The event is free and open to the public.
Ib Petersen has served as ambassador, and permanent representative of Denmark to the United Nations since August 2013. Before taking on that position, Ambassador Petersen served for four years as state secretary for development policy of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to that, he was state secretary for development cooperation, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United Nations.
Ib Petersen has held a variety of senior management positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including under secretary for bilateral development cooperation (2004–2007), head of department, policy and planning (2001–2004) and deputy head of department, development policy and planning (1998-2001).
From 1995 to 1998, he served as deputy head of the Danish Embassy in Zimbabwe and from 1988 to 1991 as adviser to the Nordic executive director on the board of the World Bank in Washington, D.C. He joined the Danish Foreign Service in 1985.
He has also served on the boards of Danish International Investment Funds: The Industrialization Funds for Developing Countries and The Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe and The Investment Fund for Emerging Markets.
In this lecture, Ambassador Ib Petersen presents the perspective of a small, socially-progressive society embracing collective global challenges with renewed commitment. From climate change to the Post-2015 development agenda, Denmark has strengthened its engagement with the world. In February 2015, a month after the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Denmark was shocked by deadly terror attacks on a free expression lecture and a synagogue in Copenhagen within a matter of hours. Despite the effort to intimidate and terrorize, Denmark’s commitment to engage multilaterally has not wavered nor has Denmark retreated to isolationism. Danish statesman Mogens Lykketoft has also been elected president of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
For more information about this and other events on campus, please visit here, or call the Cultural Events Hotline at (516) 877-4555.
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