Elisabeth Walaas (born 27 April 1956) is a Norwegian civil servant, diplomat and politician for the Labour Party. She took her examen artium in 1975 in Tønsberg, and the cand.philol. degree in 1983 at the University of Bergen. She worked as a school teacher before and after graduating. She served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

during the term 1989–1993. From 1983 to 1990 she was a member of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

city council. She was appointed a political advisor, from 1987 to 1989 in the Ministry of Culture and Science and from 1990 to 1992 in the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

. In 1992 she was hired as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1997 she was promoted to head of department, from 2001 to 2004 she was a diplomat in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and in 2005 she was appointed Norwegian ambassador to

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. In September 2007, during the

second cabinet Stoltenberg Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet was the Government of Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. It was a coalition between the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party, known as the Red–Green Coalition. On 9 September ...

, Walaas was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

References

1956 births Living people Politicians from Tønsberg University of Bergen alumni Norwegian schoolteachers Norwegian civil servants Norwegian women civil servants Labour Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Bergen Deputy members of the Storting Women members of the Storting Ambassadors of Norway to Croatia Norwegian women ambassadors {{Norway-politician-1950s-stub