Our dear colleague and leader, Ambassador Martin Sørby, will leave the Norwegian Embassy in The Hague on Friday 10 July.
During his four years as ambassador to both the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Martin has done everything in his power to maintain the excellent relations between Norway and these two countries.
He has successfully sustained and promoted the historical, cultural and economic ties, which exist between Norway, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
From ministerial visits to cultural & business promotion events, he has ably advocated Norway’s interests in a positive manor. His close collaboration with his Nordic colleagues has led to increased cooperation between the four embassies.
Promoting Norway as a suitable candidate for a UN Security Council seat in 2021/2022 has also been an important task in his daily work as ambassador. Defending values like human rights and international order, which are core to Norway’s foreign policy, were especially important during his assignment towards the international institutions based in The Hague. Both the ICC and OPCW have been openly challenged in these last few years. As Norway’s representative, Martin performed an excellent job in defending and supporting the international rules-based order these organisations represent.
Martin has consistently been a considerate, kind and fair leader towards our team. Especially this latter characteristic will be invaluable for his new position as the Director of the Control Unit of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo.
We want to thank Martin for everything he has done for our embassy and wish him all the best in his new position.
We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome our new Ambassador, Bård Ivar Svendsen. He is currently Norway’s Ambassador for Arctic & Antarctic Affairs and will start his new position here in The Hague in August, when we will introduce him properly.