Anders Fogh Rasmussen Keynote Speaker

Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been at the centre of European and global politics for three decades. He was Secretary General of NATO (2009-14), Prime Minister of Denmark (2001-09), Danish Minister of Economic Affairs, and a leading Danish parliamentarian.

During the Danish Presidency of the European Union, Mr. Rasmussen played a key role in concluding the accession negotiations with 10 candidates for EU-membership. He firmly believes that the enlargements of the EU and NATO have contributed to peace, progress and prosperity in Europe.

The first Prime Minister ever to become Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen took office as NATO’s 12th Secretary General from 2009-14. His tenure marked a fundamental transformation of the Alliance. He oversaw the Alliance’s operational peak with six operations on three continents including Afghanistan, Kosovo and Libya, as well as counter-piracy along the Somali coast, a training mission in Iraq and a counter-terrorism operation in the Mediterranean.

During his tenure he developed a new Strategic Concept, which sets the Alliance’s core priorities for the future. In the midst of the most serious economic crisis in recent time, he launched “Smart Defence” to help nations make more efficient use of their resources through more multinational cooperation. In response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he initiated a “Readiness Action Plan” adopted by Heads of State at a historic summit in Wales to strengthen the collective defence to an unprecedented level since the end of the Cold War.

A reformer who made the Alliance leaner and more efficient, Anders Fogh Rasmussen has advocated stronger ties between the world’s democracies, including a truly “Integrated Transatlantic Community”, a Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement between the EU and North America, and a global community of democracies.  He prioritised strengthening NATO’s partnerships, and made it the hub of international security partnerships.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen founded geopolitical and strategic consulting firm, Rasmussen Global, in 2014. The firm advises clients on a wide range of issues such as international security, transatlantic relations, the European Union, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and emerging markets. He was an adviser to the President of Ukraine, Mr Petro Poroshenko in 2016, and in 2020 was appointed Senior Advisor to Citigroup’s EMEA region, with a primary focus on the Nordic region.

He is the Founder and Chairman of the non-profit Alliance of Democracies Foundation (2017-present).  The organisations aims to advance democracy and free markets across the world, and holds the annual Copenhagen Democracy Summit which has been attended by the likes of former Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair, and former US President Joe Biden (then-Vice President).  Fogh Rasmussen also launched the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, designed to bolster Western democracies outside interference.  Members of the commission include Nick Clegg, Toomas Ilves, Felipe Calderón and John Kerry.