Ambassador Dr. Gunnar Pálsson

Curriculum Vitae

Ambassador Dr. Gunnar Pálsson presented his credentials to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on January 18, 2007.

Ambassador Dr. Gunnar Pálsson was born in Reykjavík in 1955. He completed his Bachelor Degree from University College, Dublin, in Politics and Philosophy in 1977, and then did post-graduate work in Tübingen, Germany, before completing his Masters Degree in Philosophy from University College, Dublin, 1979.  He finished his Doctorate in Political Science from the University at Buffalo, New York, 1984.

Ambassador Pálsson was a journalist at the daily Morgunblaðið, before joining The Ministry for Foreign Affairs as First Secretary in 1984. In 1986, he became member of the International Staff at NATO in Brussels. He returned to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1988 as a Counsellor. In 1991, Ambassador Pálsson was posted to Vienna, where he served as Ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the negotiations on Confidence and Security-Building Measures (CSBM) and the negotiations on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE).  From 1992 to 1994 he was Deputy Permanent Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.  He was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iceland to the United Nations in New York from 1994 till 1998. From 1998 till 2002 he served as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iceland to NATO and WEU, Brussels, and OPCW, The Hague.

From 2002 to 2004 he served as Chairman, Senior Arctic Officials (SAO) of the Arctic Council and until 1996 as Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. 

Ambassador Pálsson is married to Mrs. Elín Snorradóttir and they have four children.