Ambassador Kent Härstedt

Ambassador Kent Härstedt is a renowned Swedish politician and diplomat with an international focus, particularly on the OSCE region and on East and Southeast Asia. Ambassador Härstedt has a deep knowledge of regional security mechanisms, institutional reform and human rights.

Härstedt has held a number of parliamentary and governmental functions. He was a Member of Parliament 1998-2018 and served on the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees. From 2010 to 2018, Härstedt was a member of the Swedish Parliamentary Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and acted as head of delegation from 2014 to 2018. Härstedt was OSCE PA Vice-President from 2015 to 2018. Härstedt took part in 19 international election observation missions and led three of them.

Härstedt’s experience also includes serving as the Swedish government’s Special Envoy for the Korean Peninsula. He has been a political adviser in the Swedish Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defence. Härstedt, has also been President of Swedish UNICEF and board member of the Swedish National Institute for public health.