Career
He was previously ambassador to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia and Turkmenistan. He became first secretary in the foreign ministry in 1983 and subsequently served in the Icelandic embassy in Paris, as Deputy Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, as Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva, as chief negotiator for European Free Trade Association with Mexico and Chile and as Chairman of the World Trade Organization Committee on Least Developed Countries.
