Gudmund Saxrud was a Norwegian civil servant and diplomat.

He was born in Stange

Stange

is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stangebyen.-Name:...

. Having graduated as cand.oecon.

Cand.oecon.

Candidatus oeconomices or Candidata oeconomices , often abbreviated cand.oecon. is an academic degree in economics at Danish and Norwegian universities. It is roughly equivalent to a Master of Economics, but it consists of 4+2 years, and was based on a four year cand.mag.. The degree was replaced...

 in 1948, he was hired as an assisting secretary in the Ministry of Trade, and worked there until 1958. From 1963 to 1965 he worked at the European Free Trade Association

European Free Trade Association

The European Free Trade Association or EFTA is a free trade organisation between four European countries that operates parallel to, and is linked to, the European Union . EFTA was established on 3 May 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to,...

 Secretariat in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, only to return to the Norwegian Ministry of Trade. He was Vice a sub-director in the 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...

 from 1970 to 1972, Vice Secretary-General of the Nordic Council of Ministers from 1972 to 1977, and Secretary-General of the Nordic Council

Nordic Council

The Nordic Council is a geo-political, inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. It was established following World War II and its first concrete result was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market and free movement across borders without passports for the...

from 1977 to 1982. After this he has worked as an advisor.