SAMAK is the joint committee of the Nordic social democratic labour movement. It is a forum for cooperation between social democrats and trade unions in the Nordic countries.
SAMAK assembles the social democratic parties of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, The Åland Islands and Norway – as well as the linked national trade union confederations of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
Jens Stoltenberg
President of SAMAK, Jens Stoltenberg was born on 16 March 1959, Oslo, Norway. He is married with two children. He studied Economics and was a Lecturer in political economy at the University of Oslo. In 1989-1990, he was Executive officer at the Research Department, Statistics Norway. Jens Stoltenberg was in several Government positions : State Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment (1990-1991); Minister of Industry and Energy (1993-1996); Minister of Finance (1996-1997); and Prime Minister (2000-2001). Jens Stoltenberg’s political appointments were : Member of the board of the Norwegian Labour Youth League (1979-1989); Information Officer for the Oslo Labour Party (1981); Chairman of the Norwegian Labour Youth League (1985-1989); Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth (1985-1989); Chairman of the Oslo Labour Party (1990-1992); Deputy Chairman of the Norwegian Labour Party (1992-2002). He is currently Member of the board, Labour Party Central Executive Committee (since 1985); Member of the Storting (Parliament) (since 1991); Chairman of the Labour Party parliamentary group (since 2001); Chairman of the Norwegian Labour Party (since 2002).
Peter Palshøj
The Secretary General of SAMAK is Peter Palshøj. In 1985, he was international consultant for DUF/The Danish Youth Council. In 1993, he became Secretary General of The Labour Movement’s International Forum, AIF/ Denmark. He was appointed Member of the Board of The Max Havelaar Foundation (Denmark) in 1997. The same year he became Member of the Board of the Danish Refugee Council. He is vice-president of Solidar (since 1998) and Secretary General of SAMAK (since 2000).
