H.E Petra Menander

Before arriving, Ms. Menander was Head of Project Exports and International Procurement within the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm. A particular personal focus was on innovative Swedish solutions for green transition. She was the senior official in charge of the Swedish Export Credit Agency and member of the Board of Swecare, a public/private sector platform for internationalization of Swedish healthcare. Her career at the Ministry began in 2000, focusing on development and trade policy as well as EU affairs. She was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative to UNEP and UNHABITAT at the Swedish embassy in Nairobi (2004-07) and then Director/Deputy Head of department for Multilateral Development Co-operation in Stockholm (2007-11). During that time she was member of the Board at the Climate Investment Funds and the Global Environment Facility. Simultaneously, she was Sweden’s lead negotiator in replenishments for the African Development Bank/Fund. During 2011-12, Ms. Menander worked at the African Development Bank headquarters in Tunis, initially as advisor to the Chief Operating Officer. She then headed the Secretariat for coordination of the leading International Financial Institutions’ support to transition in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, and Libya as part of the Deauville Partnership. 2013-18 Ms. Menander visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the region regularly as Chief Business Development Officer at Skane Care, providing access for international clients to Swedish healthcare expertise through training, consultancy services and direct medical care. She was then among the founding members of the Saudi-Swedish Joint Business Council.In the early days as a diplomat, Ms. Menander served at the EU delegation in Jordan, also covering Yemen (1998-2000). This followed on internships with the European Commission in Brussels and the World Bank in Cairo, Egypt. Ms. Menander holds a M.Sc. in Economics (development/trade) from Lund University and certificates from Arabic language studies in Cairo, Egypt. She has participated in volunteering assignments regarding women leadership as well as for refugees in Sweden. She is fluent in Swedish, English and has basics in French, Arabic, German as well as Scandinavian languages.