Career
Since May 1st 2015 he is Ambassador for the Arctic (Senior Arctic Official), representing Iceland in the Arctic Council. He was Deputy Speaker of the Althing from 2009-2010 and again 2012-2013. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Althingi February
2009 - April 2013.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Delegation to European Free Trade Association/European Economic Area 2009-2013. Company-Chairman of the Iceland-European Union Joint Parliamentary Committee. He was a delegate to the Nordic Council 2010-2013 and Chairman of the Nordic Council"s Standing Committee of Culture and Education.
Árni Þór held a number of Parliamentary Committee posts, including on budget and finance, economy, environment, constitutional affairs, procedural affairs et cetera
He was chair, vicechair and acting chair of the Parliamentary Group 2009-2012. Prior to his parliamentary career, Árni Þór was a City Councillor in Reykjavik for 13 years, responsible for pre-schools (1994-1998), city planning and construction (1999-2002) and transport and environment (2002-2006) and Chairman of the Board of the Portuguese of Reykjavik (1994-2006).
He was vicechair of the Eurocities Mobility Forum 2002-2006 and delegate to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe 2003-2008. Árni Þór has a Master-degree in Economics and Russian from the University of Oslo, Norway and studied Russian at the universities in Stockholm, Sweden, and Moscow, Russia.
He also has a diploma in Public Administration from the University of Iceland and a Master-degree in International Relations.