Horpestad Ole T.

Ole T. HORPESTAD is the Ambassador of Norway to Ukraine and the Ambassador-Designate to the Republic of Belarus with residence in Kyiv. He joined the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988 serving on the Eastern/Central European desk. Since then, he has served in a numerous leadership positions including Attaché/Second Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Warsaw (1990 – 1993), First Secretary for economic affairs at Norwegian Embassy in Paris (1993 – 1996), and Deputy Head of Section on Economic Relations with Russia, Eastern, and Central Europe (1996 – 1997). From 1997 to 2002, he served at the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow as a Counsellor for political affairs and later as the Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission. Additionally, he was the Director, Head of Section for Russia and the CIS-countries (2002 – 2006), the Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission, Norwegian Embassy in Paris (2006 – 2010), and the Special Adviser on the High North (2010 – 2012). Prior to becoming the Ambassador, he was the Deputy Director General at the Department for Culture and Protocol in 2012 – 2016. H.E. Mr. Horpestad began his career as an Interpreter at the office of the Border Commissioner for the Norwegian - Soviet border in Kirkenes. Born on January 8th, 1956 in Stavanger, he received a Master of Philology (Cand. Philol.) from the University of Bergen in 1983. H.E. Mr. Horpestad is married and has one son. He speaks English, Russian, French, German, and Polish.