Brende served as Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development from 2003 to 2004. In 2005, he took up the appointment of international vice chairman of the China Council for the International Cooperation on Environment and Development. In 2006, Brende was one of the candidates shortlisted to succeed Klaus Töpfer as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, alongside Achim Steiner of Germany and Rajendra K. Pachauri of India; the post eventually went to Steiner. In January 2008, Brende joined the World Economic Forum as managing director, particularly in charge of relations with governments and civil society. In 2009, Brende joined the Norwegian Red Cross as Secretary General. He re-joined the World Economic Forum in 2011 as managing director with responsibility for policy initiatives and engagement of the Forum's non-business constituents. From 2009-2011 Brende was Secretary General of Red Cross Norway. Brende was Chairman of the UN Commission of Sustainable Development. He has been the Chairman of Mesta, Norway's largest contracting group in the area of road and highway maintenance. He was also a member of the board of Statoil. Brende was International Vice-Chairman of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. Brende was the deputy chairman of the Conservative party from 1994-98. As foreign minister of Norway Brende normalized the relationship with China. Together with the foreign minister of Cuba the “guarantor” of the Colombian peace process. As Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Brende improved the framework conditions for trade and industry, and for innovation and development. By the end of his term in office, funding for innovation had increased by 30%. As a minister of the Environment he was in charge of an increase of the national park area of Norway of more than 50%. As Secretary General of Norwegian Red Cross Brende was leading two of the largest relief operations in the society's history; in Haiti and Pakistan.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (2013–2017)
In October 2014, Brende – in his capacity as Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee – co-hosted the Cairo Conference on Palestine, an international donor conference on reconstructing the Gaza Strip, which garnered $5.4 billion in pledges. In 2015, Brende negotiated an interim agreement between Norway and the other coastal states in the Arctic – Canada, Denmark, Russia and the United States – on prohibiting commercial fishing in the increasingly ice-free international waters of the Arctic. In January 2016, Brende was appointed by United Nations Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon to the High-level Advisory Group for Every Woman Every Child.
World Economic Forum
On 15 September 2017 it was announced that Brende will be the president of the World Economic Forum from mid-October 2017.
