Klaus Sahlgren
(Finland)
UNECE Executive Secretary from 1983 to
1986
Klaus Sahlgren received an advanced degree in economics from
the Abo Academy, where he studied from 1946
to 1953. In 1955, he joined the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs of Finland. From 1957
to 1959 he was posted to the Federal Republic
of Germany, following which he was posted
to Egypt until 1962. After a two year assignment
in the Foreign Ministry in Helsinki, he
was transferred to the Finnish Embassy in
China in 1964, where he remained until 1967.
In 1968, he was appointed Assistant Under-Secretary
in the Foreign Ministry, where he remained
until he was sent as Permanent Representative
of Finland to the United Nations in Geneva,
a post that he held until 1975. He was also
Chairman of the Council of the GATT for
1974-1975. From 1975 until his appointment
as Executive Secretary of the UNECE in 1982,
he served as Executive Director of the United
Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations.