Secretary-General Appoints Bjørg Sandkjær of Norway Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Bjørg Sandkjær of Norway as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.  She will succeed Maria-Francesca Spatolisano of Italy, to whom the Secretary-General and the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs are grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.

Ms. Sandkjær has over 26 years of experience in policymaking and international development.  She served as Deputy Minister for International Development at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2021, having been responsible for the development of Norway’s strategic vision and engagement in international development cooperation issues and played a key role in the negotiations on Norway’s budgetary allocations for official development assistance (ODA) while also leading her country’s engagement in key sustainable development processes and fora, including the high-level political forum on sustainable development.

Ms. Sandkjær also served as the deputy leader of the Standing Committee on Health and Welfare of the Oslo City Council and held several positions at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Church of Norway.

Ms. Sandkjær holds a master’s degree in demography from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an undergraduate degree from the University of Oslo.  She is fluent in English and Norwegian.