Who will be Barents-Rune’s successor?

Rune Rafaelsen has become a legendary promoter of the regional Barents cooperation since he became leader of the secretariat back in 2002, when he succeeded Oddrun Pettersen, the first head of the secretariat.

With to six-year’s fixed-term rounds, Rune Rafaelsen can’t continue after 2014 and will continue to work for the Barents Secretariat as Senior Advisor. The Norwegian Barents Secretariat has 14 employees at the main office in Kirkenes in addition to six regional employees at the branch offices in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Naryan-Mar in northwest-Russia. 

Aiming at developing the Norwegian-Russian relations in the north by promoting and funding Norwegian-Russian cooperation projects, the secretariat has over its 21-years existence supported around 4,000 people-to-people projects across the border. In addition, the secretariat runs the BarentsObserver and participate in several other cross-border initiatives. 

The following 24 people have applied for the top position as head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat: