Sverker Åström

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Sverker Åström (1967)

Carl Sverker Åström (born December 30, 1915 in Uppsala ; † June 26, 2012 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish diplomat who was, among other things, Ambassador to the United Nations in New York City ( USA ) and France, and State Secretary in the Foreign Ministry .

Life

After attending school, Åström began studying at Uppsala University , where he graduated as cand. Phil. In 1935, before completing a law degree as cand. Iur. completed. During his studies between 1932 and 1937 he was a member of the National Student Organization , a student association closely related to the right-wing Sveriges nationella förbund (SNSF) .

In 1939 he entered the foreign service . At first he was an attaché in the Foreign Ministry and then between 1940 and 1943 he worked for the diplomatic mission in the Soviet Union . After being used again in the State Department, he was Legation Secretary at the US Embassy between 1946 and 1948 . He then returned to the Foreign Office, where he was Head of Unit in 1949 , before he was Counselor at the Embassy in Great Britain between 1953 and 1956 .

In 1956 he became head of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held this position with the title of Council for Foreign Affairs (Utrikesråd) until 1963. During this time he was one of the closest collaborators of Foreign Minister Östen Undén . He then moved to the United Nations in New York City as Permanent Representative of Sweden with the rank of Ambassador, where he stayed until 1970. He was then chief negotiator for negotiations with the European Communities (EC) until 1972 .

In 1972 he succeeded Ole Jödahl as State Secretary in the Foreign Ministry (cabinet secretaries) and thus held the second most important post in the Foreign Ministry after the then Foreign Ministers Krister Wickman , Sven Andersson and Karin Söder until he was replaced by Leif Leifland in 1977 . Through this office he had significant influence on Swedish foreign policy in the early 1970s. He was one of the leading planners and designers of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. In addition, since 1974 he was a member of the Royal Academy of War Studies (Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademien) .

Most recently he was ambassador to France in 1978. He held this position until he retired in 1982.

Even after he left the diplomatic service, he was involved in foreign and environmental issues. Åström was open to his homosexuality and in 2006 was the presenter of the program Böglobbyn ("The Gay Lobby ") on the public broadcaster Sveriges Television . However, after two episodes, he stopped acting as a presenter because, in his opinion, the program was “vulgar and tasteless” and promoted “prejudice against homosexuals”.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Åström, Sverker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH December 30, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Uppsala
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 2012
Place of death Stockholm