Christian Friis Bach


Christian Friis Bach is an author, lecturer and part-time farmer.

Early life and education

Friis Bach was born in Frederiksberg in Denmark. He holds a Ph.D. in International Economics and an MSc in Agronomics from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen. In 1991 he took a Supplementary degree in journalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism.

Career

Mr Bach served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe from the 9 July 2014 until May 2017.. He was previously Member of the Parliament of Denmark and Head of the Parliamentarian Group for the Social Liberal Party.
He served as Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
He has been Honorary Professor of International Economics and Development at the University of Copenhagen, Assistant Professor in Development Economics at the University of Copenhagen's Institute of Economics followed by six years as Associate Professor in International and Development Economics at the Royal Danish Agricultural University .
He has served as Special Advisor to the European Commission, Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, in relation to the United Nations Global Sustainability Panel and was a member of then Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa, which held meetings between April and October 2008.
Mr Bach has a long history with civil society, notably as the International Director for DanChurchAid, as Chairman of the Danish Association for International Cooperation and from 1997-2001 and Secretary-General of the Danish Refugee Council the 1st of November 2017 from 2017-2019.
. He was one of the key drivers behind the Danish Fair Trade movement in the early 1990’ies and helped to establish the Danish Ethical Trading Initiative and DanWatch. He also has private sector experience from running two start-up companies and has worked as a journalist at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.
He has published a number of books and articles, both scientific and popular.
Christian Friis Bach has been married to Karin Friis Bach since 1991. They have three grown-up children. In their spare time, they run a part-time farm with cows and horses 25 km from Copenhagen.