Arve Thorvik was educated in political science in Norway, the US and in the UK. He entered the Norwegian Foreign Service in 1973, and served in Lagos, Geneva and Washington, including positions such as Head of the EU section in the ministry, before leaving in 1989. Arve has worked as Director for International Section in the Norwegian Confederation of Business and Industry, as Managing Director of the Federation of Process Industries. In 1997 he joined Statoil as Senior Vice President for Health, Safety and Environment. In 2000 he was seconded to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, where he served three years as Project Director for their global Sustainable Mobility Project, working with oil and auto companies on future transportation systems.

From 2003 to 2008 he was Vice President in charge of European Affairs at Statoil (later StatoilHydro), building up the company’s presence in Brussels. In 2008 Arve took early retirement to form his own consultancy, focusing on EU and government affairs for the energy industry.



Bjørn H. Tretvoll has worked as a journalist for 10 years after studying Economics at the University of Oslo, first at The Associated Press and then for eight years at the leading Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. He also served for two years as the press secretary for the Norwegian Minister of Finance.

Since 1985 Bjørn has worked for Norsk Hydro which was then Norway's leading industrial company with a diverse portfolio which included fertilizers, light metals, petrochemicals as well as oil and natural gas.

He worked first with media and government relations in Hydro's Oil and Gas division and was then given the task of developing the company's investor relations unit. For 3.5 years he was based in New York as head of Hydro's main subsidiary in the US, Norsk Hydro North America. After returning to Norway in 1996, he was head of Hydro's corporate strategy unit and responsible for a major strategy project. He was also involved in some of the major structural changes that the company has made, including the spin-off of the fertilizer division to create Yara International.

From 2000 to 2004 Bjørn headed the President's office of Hydro, working closely on a variety of issues with the company's President and CEO. From 2004 until his retirement from Hydro on June 30, 2009, Bjørn headed Hydro's EU Affairs Office in Brussels. Until 2007, when Hydro's Oil and Gas unit was merged with Statoil, this involved working on a wide variety of energy issues under consideration by the EU institutions involving both oil and natural gas. After 2007 the focus has been on electricity market issues and the EU's climate change policies. During the five year period in Brussels he has accumulated extensive experience from working with the EU institutions both directly and through industry associations and he has developed a large network of people working on the different aspects of the EU's energy and climate change policies as well as other issues of relevance for Hydro's current aluminium business.



Galina Zlatareva holds a Masters degree in Conflict Management and International Politics from the University in Tübingen, Germany, a Masters degree in European Studies and a Bachelor in International Relations. She has worked at the Secretariat General of the European Commission, mainly on relations with the European Parliament and with stakeholders. Previous to that she worked for DG Research.

Earlier in her career, Galina worked for a US consultancy specialising in energy supply on a study on Underground Gas Storage commissioned by the Energy Charter Secretariat. Previous to that Galina was an Energy Consultant advising on investment opportunities in the field of renewable energy and EC funding possibilities.

Galina’s experience includes also working at the European Parliament, where she was directly involved with the negotiations on the third package for liberalisation of the energy market. Furthermore, Galina also spent six months as an Assistant to a German Member of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Galina published her latest publication earlier this year: Achieving sustainable and secure energy supplies in a carbon constrained world in "Threats, risks and sustainability - Answers by space", Springer/Vienna, European Space Policy Institute (ESPI).
A Bulgarian national, Galina is fluent in English and German and has very good knowledge in Russian and French.


Eivind Hodne Steen holds a Master’s degree in European Political studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium where his special topic was Norwegian business’s ability to influence EU political processes. Eivind also holds a degree in European affairs from the University of Oslo and Sciences Politiques de Lyon, France. He has in-depth knowledge of EU legislative processes.

Prior to joining Thorvik International Consulting, Eivind worked in the European affairs section of the French political party, UMP in Paris, France. He mainly worked with energy and environmental issues and Scandinavian policy surveillance.

Previously Eivind worked for DG Relex at the European Commission on EU relations to Norway and Iceland.  Eivind’s experience also include working at the Norwegian delegation to UNESCO, Paris, where he was involved with diplomatic negotiations on scientific, educational and cultural matters.

Eivind speaks French and English fluently.

• Other resources We are closely associated with Axxept AS -
an Oslo based public affairs consultancy. If need be, we can also draw on those resources. (http://www.axxept.no)