Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Utenriksministeren
Incumbent Børge Brende since 16 October 2013
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Member of	Council of State
Seat	Victoria Terrasse, Oslo
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	Monarch with approval of Parliament
Term length	No fixed length
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Norway
Precursor	Prime Minister in Stockholm
Formation	7 July 1905
First holder	Jørgen Løvland
Succession	Second to Prime Minister
Deputy	State secretaries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Website	Official website

The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norwegian: Utenriksministeren) is a councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 16 October 2013, the position has been held by Børge Brende of the Conservative Party. The ministry, based at Victoria Terrasse is responsible for Norway's relation with foreign countries, including diplomacy and diplomatic missions, trade, foreign aid and cooperation with international organizations. Except during the four in which a Deputy of the Prime Minister of Norway was appointed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs ranks second in the cabinet after the Prime Minister and is his deputy. The position was created on 7 June 1905, the day Norway declared independence from Sweden, with the Liberal Party's Jørgen Løvland as the inaugural. Thirty-nine people from five parties have held the position, all men. From 1983 to 2013 the ministry also had the Minister of International Development, which was responsible for issues related to foreign aid.

Halvard Lange (Labour) is the longest-serving, having held the position for more than eighteen years in four cabinets. The shortest-serving is the fellow party member, Edvard Bull, Sr., who held the position for the sixteen days that Hornsrud's Cabinet lasted. Johan Ludwig Mowinckel (Liberal) was appointed four times as minister. Three people have sat concurrently as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs: Løvland, Mowinckel and Ivar Lykke (Conservative). Three officeholders would later become Prime Minister: Løvland, Mowinckel and Kjell Magne Bondevik (Christian Democratic). Two former Prime Ministers have held the office: John Lyng (Conservative) and Thorbjørn Jagland (Labour). Trygve Lie (Labour) resigned from the office to become the inaugural Secretary-General of the United Nations. Two people have died while in office: Knut Frydenlund and Johan Jørgen Holst (both Labour).