Ambassador Ludin hosts farewell luncheon in honor of Ambassador Eide

The luncheon, which gathered some 30 people, included Norwegian State Secretaries, Ambassadors, senior civil servants from the Norwegian MFA and representatives from the Norwegian Church Aid, the Norwegian Atlantic Committee, the University of Oslo, Norwegian Broadcasting Cooperation and Aftenposten.


Ambassador Eide, who was appointed the new United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan by H.E. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, on March 10th 2008, replaces Mr Tom Koenings of Germany, who completed his assignment in December 2007.


Ambassador Eide previously served with the United Nations as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to undertake a comprehensive review of Kosovo in 2005 and as Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997-98.


Ambassador Eide has been a member of the Norwegian Foreign Service since 1975. His diplomatic career includes postings as Special Adviser on the Balkans at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Norway's Ambassador at the International Conference for the former Yugoslavia, with special negotiating responsibility for Croatia. He also served as Permanent Representative of Norway to NATO and as the Norwegian Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including as Chairman of the OSCE Permanent Council.


The role as the new Special Representative to Secretary General of the United Nations in Afghanistan will be challenging and demanding, but nevertheless a very important and rewarding job. Ambassador Ludin assured Ambassador Eide that he has the full support of the people and the Government of Afghanistan. Ambassador Ludin and the Embassy of Afghanistan in Oslo wishes Ambassador Eide the best of luck with his new assignment.

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