UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, is second in command of the UN under Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon. He is Sweden's former Foreign Minister, and served as his country's Ambassador to the US twice. Most recently, he was instrumental in the chemical weapons negotiations with Syria, efforts that have been implemented by the Organization Against Chemical Weapons, which was recently honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. He has served in numerous high level positions at the UN including: President of the General Assembly; the first UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs; and a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group.

Ambassador Eliasson is a tireless advocate of taking a holistic, problem-oriented approach to solve complex global challenges. He argues that “there is no peace without development; there is no development without peace; and there is no sustainable peace without respect for human rights”. Furthermore, solutions in an increasingly interconnected world with emerging transnational problems require shared responsibility, with an “inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary approach” by tearing down barriers between different sectors in order to make a lasting difference in the developing world.