Anna Gunilla Carlsson is a Swedish

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and a member of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

. She served as Minister for International Development Cooperation from 2006 to 2013,

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Swedish Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, f ...

from 2002 to 2013 and deputy chairman of her party from 2003 to 2015.

Early life

Carlsson was born and raised in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

. She was at one time chairperson of the

Moderate Youth League The Moderate Youth League ( ; MUF), officially known in English as the Swedish Young Conservatives, is the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party. Of the political youth organizations that received financial support from the Swedish Agency ...

district in that county. At the Battle of Lycksele, when current party leader

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, former Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He was the last rotating Presi ...

was elected chairman of the Youth League, Carlsson was elected vice chairman.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 1995-2002

After working as an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

, Carlsson joined the Moderate Party office in 1994. In

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, she was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

and served until 2002. In parliament, she served on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy (1995-1999) and on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (1999-2002). In addition to her committee assignments, she was vice-chair of the parliament's delegation to the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Asso ...

Joint Parliamentary Committee (EEA) from 1995 until 1997.

Career in national politics

In the 2002 national elections, Carlsson was elected to the Riksdag for

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. In 1999, she was elected vice chairman of the Moderate Party. With the growing co-operation between the Swedish opposition parties, Carlsson was appointed to head the group co-ordinating

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

. This led to speculation about her being a possible candidate to the office of

Minister for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

after

Alliance for Sweden The Alliance (, from 2004-10 the ''Alliance for Sweden,'' ), was a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal-conservative political alliance in Sweden. The Alliance consisted of the four centre-right list of political parties in Sweden, politic ...

's victory in the 2006 election. With a number of the Moderate Party Riksdag members from Östergötland resigning, she decided to stand in her home county in 2006. While she won the internal primaries, she was only placed second on the list after

Gunnar Axén Hans Gunnar Axén (born 9 July 1967) is a Swedish Moderate Party politician and a member of the Swedish Riksdag for Östergötland from 1998 to 2014. Born and raised in Norrköping, he was at one time the chairman of the local Moderate Youth Le ...

, but comfortably reached re-election as the party went from three to four seats from the county. She continues to make her home in Tyresö outside Stockholm. From 2007, Carlsson was a member of the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group ...

’s High Level Advisory Council on Women's Economic Empowerment, which was chaired by Danny Leipziger and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. In her capacity as minister, Carlsson also chaired the Stockholm-based Commission on Climate Change and Development (CCCD), a body made up of 13 international experts and established by the Swedish government in 2007 with the aim of looking at how countries can adapt to climate change. In its final report, the commission recommended in 2009 that poor countries already suffering from the impact of climate change urgently need up to $2 billion to help adjust and cope. In September 2009, Carlsson led, together with

Karel De Gucht Karel Lodewijk Georgette Emmerence De Gucht (; born 27 January 1954) is a Belgian politician who was the European Commissioner for Trade from February 2010 until 31 October 2014.European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection The European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management is a member of the European Commission. The portfolios is currently held by Hadja Lahbib. Hadja Lahbib also serves as Commissioner for Equality. The Civil Protection mechanism of ...

, a delegation to Zimbabwe for discussions with President

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

. This was to discuss the lifting of targeted EU sanctions against him and more than 200 of his political allies and related businesses. He and his Zanu-PF party have for years loudly argued that these measures are directly responsible for Zimbabwe's economic collapse. The EU team did not buy that argument, and would not even put the sanctions issue on the negotiating table at that time, according to a ''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

'' report."Tentative thaw in EU-Zimbabwe ties" Andrew Harding, BBC News, Harare
/ref>"Mugabe hails landmark EU meeting", BBC News (Africa). Has links to other sites
/ref> As the

convened after the summer on 17 September 2013,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

announced that Carlsson had submitted her resignation and he had accepted the resignation earlier that morning. Subsequently, she resigned her seat in the

Career in international development

In her final year as minister from 2012 until 2013, Carlsson served – alongside

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gol ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

and others – on the High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda, an advisory board established by

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

to develop the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the

Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...

. Following her resignation, Carlsson served alongside

Tertius Zongo Tertius Zongo (born 18 May 1957) was the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso from June 2007 to April 2011. Biography Zongo was born in Koudougou. He has an extensive background in economics and accounting. He became Minister Delegate for Budget and P ...

and Callisto Madavo on the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

’s three-member High Level Panel on Fragile States between 2013 and 2014, where she advised on strategies related to the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

. Between 2013 and 2015, she was a member of the

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS; , ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ex ...

–'' Lancet'' Commission on Defeating AIDS, chaired by

Joyce Banda Joyce Hilda Banda (née Ntila; born 12 April 1950) is a Malawi, Malawian politician, who served as List of heads of state of Malawi, President of Malawi, from 7 April 2012 to 31 May 2014. Banda took office as President following the sudden deat ...

Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma (; born 27 January 1949), sometimes referred to by her initials NDZ, is a South African politician, medical doctor and former anti-apartheid activist. A longstanding member of the African National Congress (ANC), ...

and

Peter Piot Sir Peter Karel, Baron Piot (born 17 February 1949) is a Belgian-British microbiologist known for his research into Ebola and AIDS. After helping discover the Ebola virus in 1976 and leading efforts to contain the first-ever recorded Ebola epide ...

. In 2017,

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

appointed Carlsson as the UNAIDS deputy executive director, management and governance, and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nation. Following

Michel Sidibé Dr. Michel Sidibé (born 1952 in Mali) is the African Union Special Envoy for the African Medicines Agency (AMA). He was the Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Mali. Sidibé was the second Executive Director of UNAIDS, serving from Janua ...

’s resignation, she briefly served as executive director ad interim from May until August 2019. On 29 June 2023, the Government of Sweden appointed Carlsson as the new Chair of the Governing Board of the

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (, ) is a government agency of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida is responsible for organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing coun ...

(SIDA). She formally took up the position on 1 July 2023.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Tundra Fonder, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2017) * Annexin Pharmaceuticals, Member of the Board of Directors * NGS Group AB, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (since 2015) * IFS AB, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (2015-2016) *

Internationella Engelska Skolan Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES), or the International English School, is a Sweden, Swedish corporation which operates independent schools (or “free schools”). IES was founded in 1993 by the American teacher Barbara Bergström who moved t ...

(IES), Member of the Board (2017-2019)

Non-profit organizations

* Africa Europe Foundation (AEF), Member of the High-Level Group of Personalities on Africa-Europe Relations (since 2020), co-chair of the Strategy Group on Health *

United Nations System Staff College The United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) is a UN organization that serves the personnel of the United Nations and its affiliates via inter-agency learning and training. History In 1993, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Secret ...

(UNSSC), Member of the Board of Governors (since 2017) *

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decis ...

(ECFR), Member *

GAVI Alliance GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

, Member of the Board and of the Governance Committee *

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tu ...

, Non-voting Member of the Board *

Center for Global Development The Center for Global Development (CGD) is a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and London that focuses on international development. History It was founded in November 2001 by former senior U.S. official Edward W. Scott, directo ...

, Member of the European Advisory GroupEuropean Advisory Group

References

External links

Officiell website

Gunilla Carlsson
at the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlsson, Gunilla 21st-century Swedish women politicians Living people Ministers for international development cooperation of Sweden Members of the Riksdag from the Moderate Party Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Women members of the Riksdag Women government ministers of Sweden Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Swedish officials of the United Nations Year of birth missing (living people) People from Lund