Elisabeth Walaas is a Norwegian civil servant, diplomat and politician for the Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

.

She took her examen artium

Examen artium

Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...

 in 1975 in Tønsberg

Tønsberg

is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, southern Norway, located around north-east of Sandefjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tønsberg....

, and the cand.philol. degree in 1983 at the University of Bergen

University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...

. She worked as a school teacher before and after graduating.

She served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Hordaland

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

 during the term 1989–1993. From 1983 to 1990 she was a member of Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

 city council. She was appointed a political advisor, from 1987 to 1989 in the Ministry of Culture and Science

Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Culture is responsible for cultural policy, regulations and other matters related to the media and sports. The ministry was established in 1982, at which time it was called the Ministry of Cultural and Scientific Affairs. Until then, the Ministry of Church and...

 and from 1990 to 1992 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway...

.

In 1992 she was hired as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1997 she was promoted to head of department, from 2001 to 2004 she was a diplomat in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 and in 2005 she was appointed Norwegian ambassador to Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

. In September 2007, during the second cabinet Stoltenberg

Second cabinet Stoltenberg

Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet is the current government of Norway. Appointed on 17 October 2005, it is a coalition between the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party, known as the Red–Green Coalition. The cabinet has ten members from the Labour Party, five from the Socialist...

, Walaas was appointed State Secretary

State Secretary (Norway)

In Norway, a State Secretary is a partisan political position within the executive branch of government. Contrary to the position Secretary of State in many other countries, the Norwegian State Secretary does not head his or her Ministry, rather, they are second in rank to a Minister...

in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.