Árni Þór Sigurðsson

Icelandic diplomat

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Árni Þór Sigurðsson
Árni Þór in 2011

Icelandic Ambassador to Denmark
Incumbent
Assumed office 2023 (2023)
Preceded by	Helga Hauksdóttir
Icelandic Ambassador to Russia
In office 2020 (2020)–2023 (2023)
Preceded by	Berglind Ásgeirsdóttir
Succeeded by	(vacant)
Icelandic Ambassador to Finland
In office 2018 (2018)–2020 (2020)
Preceded by	Kristín A. Árnadóttir
Succeeded by	Auðunn Atlason
Senior Arctic Official for Iceland
In office 2015 (2015)–2018 (2018)
Preceded by	Thorsteinn Ingolfsson
Succeeded by	Bryndís Kjartansdóttir

Personal details
Born	(1960-07-30) 30 July 1960 (age 63) Reykjavík, Iceland
Political party	Left-Green Movement
Spouse	Sigurbjörg Þorsteinsdóttir
Children	3

Árni Þór Sigurðsson (born 30 July 1960) is an Icelandic diplomat and former member of the Althing. He is currently the ambassador of Iceland to Denmark, and previously served as ambassador to Finland and to the Russian Federation.

Career

Árni Þór received a cand.mag. degree in Economics and Russian from the University of Oslo in 1986 and subsequently pursued graduate studies in Slavic languages at the University of Stockholm and the University of Moscow. He received a master's degree in international relations from the University of Iceland in 2015.

From the early 1990s until his election to the Althing in 2007, he served in various roles at the Icelandic Teachers' Union, the Icelandic Ports Association, and on the Reykjavík City Council.

At the Althing, Árni Þór represented Reykjavík Constituency North as a member of the Left-Green Movement until 2014. He served on a variety of committees and chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee from 2009 to 2013 and the Parliamentary Delegation to European Free Trade Association from 2009 to 2013. He co-chaired the Iceland-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee and was a delegate to the Nordic Council from 2010 to 2013 where he chaired the Standing Committee of Culture and Education. He was Deputy Speaker of the Althing twice in 2009-2010 and 2012–2013. He was chair, vice-chair, or acting chair of the Left-Green Movement's parliamentary group from 2009 to 2012.

Árni Þór was appointed to the Icelandic foreign service in 2014. From 2015 he was Ambassador for Arctic Affairs, representing Iceland in the Arctic Council and from 2018 he was Iceland's Ambassador to Finland, also accredited to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. He became Ambassador to Russia in 2020.

He has been decorated a Commander of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

Shortly after the closure of Iceland's embassy in Moscow in 2023,^[1] Árni Þór became Ambassador to Denmark.

Klaustur Affair

During the Klaustur Affair, it was revealed that Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson had appointed Árni Þór as an ambassador in order to draw attention away from Geir Haarde, whose simultaneous appointment was a political favour to the Independence Party.^[2]

Árni Þór responded with a public statement emphasizing that his experience made him a good candidate for the role.^[3]

Personal life

Árni Þór was born in Reykjavík. He and his wife Sigurbjörg Þorsteinsdóttir have three children.

References

^ "Starfsemi sendiráðsins lögð niður í dag". 1 August 2023.
^ "Leyniupptaka: Gunnar Bragi skipaði Árna Þór sendiherra til að draga athygli frá Geir Haarde - "Ég var brjálaður við þig Gunni"". 28 November 2018.
^ "Árni Þór um viðbrögð VG vegna sendiherrastöðunnar: "Það var gagnrýni sem ég hafði skilning á og tók nærri mér"". 4 December 2018.