Arild Retvedt Øyen (born 19 March 1946) is a Norwegian veterinarian and diplomat. His most prominent positions include those of director of the World Food Programme in Madagascar and Norway's

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to nine African countries.

Career

Øyen was born in Ski,

finished Finished may refer to: * ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard * ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film * "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp See also *Finishing (disa ...

his secondary education in 1965 and graduated from the

Norwegian School of Veterinary Science Norwegian School of Veterinary Science ( no, Norges veterinærhøgskole) or NVH was a public university located at Adamstuen in Oslo, that educated veterinarians and veterinary nurses as well as research within aquatic medicine, food safety ...

with the

cand.med.vet. Cand.med.vet ( (male/female) ) or "candidate of veterinary medicine" is an academic degree awarded in Scandinavian countries following a 5,5 to 6 year veterinary medical school education. It is equivalent with the same kind of degrees given in ot ...

degree in 1973. He was acting municipal veterinarian in

Hitra Municipality Hitra is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality covers the island of Hitra and hundreds smaller islands, islets, and skerries. It is part of the Fosen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village o ...

Frøya Municipality Frøya may refer to: Places * Frøya, Sogn og Fjordane, an island in the municipality of Bremanger in Vestlandet, Norway *Frøya, Trøndelag, a municipality in Trøndelag, Norway *Frøya (island), an island in the municipality of Frøya in Trøndel ...

and

Selbu Municipality Selbu is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mebonden. Other villages in Selbu include Flora, Fossan, Hyttbakken, Innbygda, Selbustrand, Trøa, Tømra, and Vikvarvet. The ...

from 1973 to 1974, only in Selbu from 1974 to 1975 and later district veterinarian based in Hammerfest from 1977 to 1978. He was involved in a project in Madagascar from 1978 to 1985; from 1981 this project had a connection to the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. From 1986 to 1988 he was the director of the World Food Programme in Madagascar. Øyen was then an inspector for the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture from 1988 to 1989, and adviser in the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation from 1990 to 1991. He later worked as counsellor at the Norwegian embassy in Namibia, then in Tanzania, then in Uganda. In 1997 he became the Norwegian ambassador to Uganda; from 1998 he also had responsibility for the neighboring countries

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

and

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. In 2002 he became the Norwegian ambassador to Angola, from 2003 also with responsibility for Democratic Republic of the Congo and

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

, from 2004 also in

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe (; pt, São Tomé e Príncipe (); English: " Saint Thomas and Prince"), officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe ( pt, República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe), is a Portuguese-speaking i ...

, and from 2005 in Gabon. He later returned to Norway, but in 2009 he was dispatched to the Congo to conciliate in the criminal case of Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland. In 2010 he became ambassador to Algeria. He has been decorated with an Order by the Malagasy government, and in 1999 he became a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. He was later decorated with the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav.

References