Arne Arnesen was a Norwegian diplomat and politician for the Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

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He was born in Moss

Moss, Norway

is a coastal city and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Moss. The city of Moss was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...

 as a son of dentist Arne Arnesen (1900–1975) and modist Dordi Texnæs (1906–1996). The family moved to Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 in 1932. Arnesen finished

Examen artium

Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...

 his secondary education, lived in Hamar

Hamar

is a town and municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hamar. The municipality of Hamar was separated from Vang as a town and municipality of its own in 1849...

 for some time before enrolling in political science at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 in 1949. He studied at the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 from 1951 until he graduated with the master's degree in 1953. He was a research fellow

Research fellow

The title of research fellow is used to denote a research position at a university or similar institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a principal investigator...

 until 1955, when he started working for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway...

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He was stationed at the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 from 1957 to 1960, worked out of Norway with development aid until 1964, then two years at the embassy in Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

. Back in Norway he was an assistant secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1966 to 1971, then leader of the minister's secretariat. After a short stint in the newspaper Arbeiderbladet

Dagsavisen

Dagsavisen is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999, and it is now fully independent...

in 1973 he served as State Secretary

State Secretary (Norway)

In Norway, a State Secretary is a partisan political position within the executive branch of government. Contrary to the position Secretary of State in many other countries, the Norwegian State Secretary does not head his or her Ministry, rather, they are second in rank to a Minister...

 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1973 to 1975. He was then the director of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its task is to ensure effective foreign aid, with quality assurance and evaluation. NORAD both finances NGOs, and does its own research and projects. The current director general is...

 from 1975 to 1982, Norway's ambassador to China from 1982 to 1987, State Secretary in the Ministry of Development Cooperation from 1987 to 1989 and ambassador to Denmark from 1990 to 1996.

He was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry in 1976 and the Order of the Dannebrog

Order of the Dannebrog

The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...

, and was a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. He died in December 2010.