Her Excellency Bergdis Ellertsdóttir visits the University of Scranton

On Tuesday, Ambassador of Iceland to the United States Bergdís Ellertsdóttir paid a visit to the University of Scranton. 

Ellertsdottir attended the event along with Fullbright Scholar Jay Nathan and Icelandic violinist Eva Ingolfsdóttir.

Ellertsdóttir said that this was the first time she had ever visited Scranton and it was a privilege to be able to talk about her country to residents.

“I always liked to talk to Iceland and the crowd was very interested. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to talk about Iceland,” Ellertsdóttir said.

From 2000 to 2003, Ellertsdóttir was deputy director of the political department dealing with NATO, OSCE and bilateral relations with the United States, Canada and Russia. She was the chief negotiator in the Iceland-China Free Trade Agreement in September 2012. 

In September 2014, she was appointed head of the Icelandic Mission to the European Union as well as ambassador of Iceland to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and San Marino.

Ellertsdóttir said she was appointed as Iceland’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2018 to 2019.

“It was a very interesting experience. It was getting to know the workings of the United Nations and how important the work of the United Nations is. Even a small country like Iceland can have a voice. We are all equal in the United Nations,” Ellertsdóttir said.

Ellertsdóttir said she is grateful to the University of Scranton and Jay Nathan for inviting her to Scranton. 

“I have been working for so long in the foreign service and all experiences are important and I think the best experiences are to go to Scranton, to go and meet people and to meet United States citizens and to speak to people all around the United States and how they see the world. It’s to meet people,” Ellertsdóttir said.