Thomas Östros (born January 26, 1965 in Gällivare, Norrbotten) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He is currently (as of 2005) Minister for Industry and Trade in the Swedish government.
Östros has a licentiate degree (a graduate degree in the Swedish university system) in economics from Uppsala University. During his time at university, he was an active member of the local branch of Social Democratic Students of Sweden . He also served as a councillor in the Uppsala Municipal Council.
In 1994 he was elected to the Riksdag as a Member of Parliament. In 1996 he became Minister for Taxation in the Ministry of Finance, and in 1998 Minister for Education and Science. November 1, 2004 he switched posts with former Minister for Industry and Trade Leif Pagrotsky.
It has regularly been stated that Prime Minister Göran Persson has a lot of confidence in Thomas Östros, and Östros is often mentioned in speculation about possible successors to Persson.
External links
Information page on the Swedish Government web site
