28 Facts About Ketil Solvik-Olsen

Ketil Solvik-Olsen was born on 14 February 1972 and is a Norwegian politician of the Progress Party.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen served as Minister of Transport and Communications in the Norwegian government from 2013 to 2018, and was a member of the Norwegian Parliament for Rogaland county from 2005 until 2013.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen resigned in 2018 when moving temporary to the USin support of his wife's medical career.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen has served in the Progress Party leadership over several decades.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen served as the party's second deputy leader from 2013 to 2019 and first deputy leader from 2021 to 2023.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen was an exchange student to the United States at Blissfield High School, Michigan from 1989 to 1990.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen spent over five years in the US, including work for Disney, as a volunteer during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and as an intern in the United States Senate.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen joined the Progress Party's Youth when he was fifteen years old, in 1987.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen held various positions locally within the youth organisation from 1988 to 1992.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen was a member of the Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment from 2005 to 2011, and delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 2011.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen announced in 2012 that he would not seek renomination for the 2013 parliamentary election due to family concerns including his wife's career as a medical doctor.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen did not rule out returning to politics, and added that he would stay active in the party.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen was succeeded by minister of agriculture and food, Jon Georg Dale.

At the 2013 party congress, Ketil Solvik-Olsen was elected second deputy leader of the Progress Party.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen held this post until the party congress in May 2019, and did not seek re-election.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen has stated that he thinks Norway needs a "liberalism that is pragmatic".

Ketil Solvik-Olsen was noted as a critic of the Red-Green governmental environmental policies, claiming their policies to be based too much on "symbol politics" and unrealistic ambitious goals, instead of seeking feasible realistic options.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen has said that he is personally social conservative, though liberal with regards to how other people wish to live their lives.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen has stated that Ronald Reagan is his foremost political hero, though he has pictures of Martin Luther King Jr.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen was a member of the pro-Israel caucus Friends of Israel in the Parliament of Norway, and has held speeches at pro-Israel rallies.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen was invited to attend the second inauguration of Donald Trump in 2025, which he said he greatly looked forward to.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen is married to Tone Solvik-Olsen, a medical doctor.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen has described himself as an "atypical Progress Party-person" due to his relatively careful and modest lifestyle, not fitting several stereotypes of the traditional party supporter.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen is however, a notorious aficionado of chocolate, an addiction which has been described as "morbid".

Ketil Solvik-Olsen is a supporter of Bryne FK football club.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen publicly announced his withdrawal from the Church of Norway in 2010, after the church leadership had publicly opposed oil exploration in Lofoten and Vesteralen.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen is connected to Pentecostalism, as he for several years has attended the Pentecostal congregation Filadelfia Oslo.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen has stated that as of present he only has his personal direct contact with God, not being part of any "earthly membership lists".