Anders Ahnlid
Anders Ahnlid is an experienced expert in the area of international trade and particularly trade policy.
Appointed in 2005, he currently serves as the Director-general for Trade in Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this function he is responsible for questions relating to EU external trade policy and the EU common market, and he is Sweden’s delegate to the EU Trade Policy Committee. Prior to his current mission, Ahnlid headed the Foreign Ministry’s Department for International Trade Policy and was Minister for Trade and Economic Affairs at the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. He was also the Swedish delegate to, and the vice-chair of, the OECD Trade Committee, Sweden’s representative to the Working Party of the Trade Committee, as well as Counselor and Deputy Permanent Representative in Sweden’s Permanent Delegation to the OECD from 1995 to 1998. Ahnlid won his spurs as a negotiator for Sweden and the Nordic Countries at the legendary Uruguay Round (1988-1994), which led to the replacement of GATT by the WTO. At Catwalk 09 in Karlskrona 2009, Ahnlid will address the audience in an opening speech, focusing on trade promotion in general and on initiatives and activities concerning the IT and Telecom sector in particular.