Jan Matthysen is a former Belgian ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Life

Matthysen graduated from Ghent University in 1973 with a degree in Contemporary Political History. Having joined the

Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The following is a list of those who have served as foreign ministers of Belgium. 1800s 1900s 2000s Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyy ...

in 1984, he became First Secretary at the Belgian Embassy in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, then Counselor at the Embassy in then

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, a position which he held through the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990. He was a chargé d'affaires and later ambassador in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

beginning in 1994. In 1997 he became Head of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

desk at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry in Brussels. From 1999 to 2000, he was the Acting Head of the General Directorate for Political-Military Affairs and a senior advisor on

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

to the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative for the Balkans. In 2000, Matthysen moved to Ankara as ambassador to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, and in 2004 he moved to Bangkok to become ambassador to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Matthysen was appointed ambassador to the United States on 17 February 2009 and presented his credentials to United States President Barack Obama on 20 May 2009.Office of the Chief of Protocol
"Diplomatic Representation for Kingdom of Belgium"
United States Department of State. He stayed until 31 December 2013. In 2014 he was appointed President of the Belgian National Security Authority, and on 4 November 2014, advisor of

Princess Astrid of Belgium Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este (born 5 June 1962), is the second child and first daughter of King Albert II and Queen Paola, and the younger sister to the current Belgian monarch, King Philippe. She is married to Prin ...

. Matthysen and his wife Agnes Aerts have five children. Jan Matthysen's brother Hugo Matthysen is a Belgian singer, songwriter and television scenarist.

Offices held

References

External links

Embassy biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthysen, Jan Ambassadors of Belgium to the United States Ambassadors of Belgium to Turkey Ambassadors of Belgium to Azerbaijan Ambassadors of Belgium to Turkmenistan Ambassadors of Belgium to Thailand Ambassadors of Belgium to Cambodia Ambassadors of Belgium to Laos Ambassadors of Belgium to Myanmar Belgian diplomats Living people Ghent University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)