Björn Lyrvall

Björn Lyrvall entered the foreign ministry in 1985 after studying political science, Eastern European affairs, and Russian. He served in Leningrad, Moscow, and London. In the 1990s he advised Carl Bildt during Bildt's EU and UN assignments in the Balkans, then worked on EU enlargement and represented Sweden on the EU Political and Security Committee. ^{1, 2}

Lyrvall became ambassador in Washington in 2013 after six years as the foreign ministry's political director. His public diplomacy included work on technology and open government. In 2017 the Institute for Education honored him at an event at the Swedish residence, where he discussed bipartisan cooperation, press freedom, and Arctic questions. ²

He left Washington to become Sweden's Arctic ambassador in September 2017. The appointment brought him to cooperation among Arctic states and Indigenous representatives, covering environmental, regional, and security issues. ¹