Our staff

Gustav Lindström

Director General of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) Permanent International Secretariat in Stockholm since 1 September 2024. 

Prior to assuming his current role as Director General of the CBSS Secretariat on 1 September 2024, Gustav Lindström served as the CBSS Secretariat’s Deputy Director General from September 2023 to August 2024. From January 2018 to August 2023, he was the Director of the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) – the European Union’s agency analysing foreign, security and defence policy issues based in Paris. In his capacity as EUISS director, he also chaired the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific – EU Committee (CSCAP-EU). Read more.

Olivia Lind Haldorsson 

Senior Adviser and Head of the CBSS Children at Risk Unit

Olivia Lind Haldorsson is a Senior Adviser and Head of the CBSS Children at Risk Unit. Prior to her tenure with the CBSS, she was the co-founding Director of Child Circle, a Brussels-based centre of expertise for child protection, and the Director of Save the Children International’s office in Brussels. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations and European Studies from the University of Kent.

Edi Mujaj 

Senior Adviser, Head of the Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (TF-THB)

Prior to his tenure at the CBSS as the head of the Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (TF-THB), Edi Mujaj worked as a Development Manager at the Swedish National Coordination Office against Trafficking in Human Beings (THB). His experience in the field of THB includes coordinating and authoring several government-commissioned reports and guidelines on sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, and national referral mechanisms. He holds a degree in Political Science from Stockholm University.

Kazimierz Musiał

Senior Adviser, Regional Identity

Before joining the CBSS as Senior Adviser for Regional Identity in 2023, Kazimierz Musiał, a Polish national, worked as a professor and researcher at the Institute of Scandinavian and Finnish Studies at the University of Gdańsk, Poland. He focused on studying regional cooperation and communities in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area. He holds an MA in Scandinavian Studies from Poznań University, a PhD in Political Science from Humboldt University Berlin, and a habilitation degree in Sociology from Jagiellonian University in Cracow. At the CBSS, he is now responsible for matters related to culture, higher education, and youth.

Vineta Polatside

Senior Adviser, Safe and Secure Region

Vineta Polatside is the  Senior Adviser for the CBSS’s  Safe and Secure priority area. Ms Polatside has over 20 years of experience in safety and security, focusing on human trafficking, migration, and soft security issues. She has worked internationally with organisations such as the CBSS, IOM, and the Red Cross. Before her current role at the CBSS, she led the Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings. Earlier, she worked for Latvian government authorities, heading international cooperation and project units, and coordinating European Funds. Ms Polatside studied human rights and trafficking at the University of Minnesota Law School and holds a Master’s in Human Resource Management and a BA in Humanities from the University of Latvia.

Uģis Zanders

Adviser, Sustainable and Prosperous Region

Uģis Zanders, the Advisor for the Priority Area Sustainable and Prosperous Region, focuses, at the CBSS, on sustainable maritime economy, climate change adaptation, and the localisation of the UN Agenda 2030 and its SDGs. His previous experience is closely linked to sustainable development policy. At the Latvian Ministry of Environment and Regional Development, he contributed to the UN’s 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on Sustainable Consumption and Production and developed the national legal framework for green public procurement.