Minister Espen Barth Eide was appointed as UN special adviser on Cyprus in August 2014. He assists the parties in the conduct of negotiations aimed at reaching a comprehensive settlement. Eide is also currently the managing director and a member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

Prior to this, he served as Norwegian foreign minister from 2012 to 2013, as minister of defense from 2011 to 2012, as deputy foreign minister from 2010 to 2011 and 2000 to 2001, and as deputy minister of defense from 2005 to 2010.

Throughout his diplomatic career, he has focused extensively on global peace and reconciliation efforts. Eide was a senior researcher and research director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) from 1993 to 2000 and from 2002 to 2005, specializing in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and regional and global security issues. Since the early 1990s, he has been involved in a series of UN-initiated best practices and reform processes, and he has been closely involved with similar processes in NATO and the European Union.

Mr. Eide is a board member of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) in Oslo. He is also senior adviser to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. He graduated from the University of Oslo with a degree in political science and also attended the Autonomous University of Barcelona.