Speakers

The TEIMUN Board of Directors is proud to present the following speakers during the Opening Ceremony of TEIMUN 2008

Bert Koenders

Bert Koenders, born in Arnhem 28 may 1958, is a Dutch politician for the PvdA (the Dutch Labour Party). At the age of 25 mister Koenders graduated cum laude in Political and Social Sciences at the Free University in Amsterdam. Specialized in international relations and economics, he soon joined the Labour Party as an assistant to the parliamentary party and was responsible for Foreign Affairs. In 1997 he became a member of parliament. Aside from his functions in parliament, he was also a political advisor to the United Nations in Mozambique, Mexico and South-Africa.
Since February the 22nd of 2007 Koenders is the Minister of Development Cooperation in The Netherlands. Acting so, he has been very involved with the situation in Africa and Darfur in particular.

 

Knut Vollebaek

Knut Vollebaek was born on February 11, 1946 in Norway. He studied at Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.
After having served as Ambassador to Costa Rica and France, Mr. Vollebaek operated as minister of Foreign Affairs in Norway from 1997 to 2000. In 1999 he was the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE. In a time of interethnic crisis in the OSCE region Mr. Vollebaek played a key role in attempting to find a peaceful solution for the situation in Kosovo and led the international community efforts to establish a presence in Kosovo and assist in its reconstruction.
Vollebaek was appointed Ambassador to the United States in 2001 and since 2007 he is the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.

 

Roeland van de Geer

Mr. Van de Geer was born on February 19, 1953 in Amsterdam. From 1970 to 1978 he studied Public Administration, Political Science and International Relations at the Free University in Amsterdam.
After working another decade at the Free University Roeland van de Geer started his career in the Dutch Foreign Affairs department. Although he was Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007, his earlier missions had mostly concerned Africa. In 2007 Mr. Van de Geer was appointed the EU Special Representative for the African Great Lakes Region.