Mr. Svendsen has a higher degree in Russian and German languages and literature from the University of Oslo. He spent substantial periods studying in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1990ies.
He worked as a Russian interpreter for the Norwegian government on the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard from 1996 until 1998. He then joined the Norwegian Foreign Service. Mr. Svendsen has served as a junior diplomat in Norway’s embassies in Riga, Vienna and Moscow. From 2009-2011 he was Assistant Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs covering bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and the other countries of the South Caucasus, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova as well as the countries of Central Asia. Mr. Svendsen was Deputy Head of Mission at the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow from 2011-2014. In March 2014, he was appointed Norway’s ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan and Georgia.
