Sverker Åström
Sverker Åström Carl ( born December 30, 1915 in Uppsala, † June 26, 2012 in Stockholm) was a Swedish diplomat, who among other things, Ambassador to the United Nations in New York City (USA) and was in France as well as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Life
After schooling Åström began studying at Uppsala University and earned a degree there in 1935 as cand phil. Before he. Following a also at Uppsala University Studied law as cand iur completed. During his studies he was a member of the 1932-1937 National Student Organization of the radical right Sveriges nation ella förbund (SNF) related student association.
In 1939, he joined the Foreign Service. First, he was attaché at the State Department and then 1940-1943 employees of diplomatic mission in the Soviet Union. After a new use in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1946-1948 he was Secretary of Legation at the embassy in the United States. Then he returned to the Foreign Ministry, where he was Head of Unit in 1949, before he was 1953-1956 Counsellor at the Embassy in the UK.
In 1956 he became head of the Political Department of the Foreign Ministry and held this function with the title of the Foreign Affairs Council ( Utrikesråd ) until 1963. During this time he was one of the closest collaborators of foreign ministers Easts Undén. He then moved as Permanent Representative of Sweden to the rank of ambassador to the United Nations in New York City, where he remained until 1970. Then he was until 1972 Chief Negotiator for the negotiations with the European Communities ( EC).
It was founded in 1972 as the successor to Ole Jödahl State for Foreign Affairs ( Kabinettssekreterare ) and thus held up to his replacement by Leif Leif country in 1977 by the then Foreign Ministers Krister Wickman, Sven Andersson and Karin Söder the second most important post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had by this office considerable influence on the Swedish foreign policy in the early 1970s and he was among the relevant planners and designers of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. Besides he was a member since 1974 of the Royal Academy of war Sciences ( Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademien ).
Most recently, he was ambassador to France in 1978 and held this position until his retirement in 1982.
Even after his retirement from the diplomatic service, he became involved in foreign and environmental policy issues. Åström was open to his homosexuality and in 2006 hosted the show Böglobbyn ( " The gay lobby " ) in the public service broadcaster Sveriges Television. However, he finished after two episodes the Moderator activity since the show from his point of view " vulgar and tasteless " and that the " prejudice against homosexuals " promotes.