Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)

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).