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Name: Matthysen, Jan
Current Position: Previous Ambassador
Jan Matthysen assumed the position of Belgium’s ambassador to the United States in February 2009. Matthysen graduated from Ghent University in 1973 with a degree in Contemporary Political History. Matthysen has had two decades worth of Foreign Service experience. He joined the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984 and became the first secretary at the Belgium embassy in Bonn. He then became the Counselor at the Embassy in then East Berlin that he held through the German reunification process in 1990.
He was also the charge d’affaires and then ambassador in Belgrade from 1994 until 1997. He became the head of the NATO desk at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry in Brussels in 1997. From 1999 until 2000, Jan was the Acting Head of the General Directorate for Political-Military Affairs and senior advisor on Kosovo to the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Balkans. In 2000, he was appointed as Ambassador to Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and then in 2004 he took over as Ambassador to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma. While there, he pursued his interests in wildlife photography and gardening, redesigning the landscaping of the Belgian embassy in Bangkok himself.
He is married to Agnes Aerts with five children.
Official Biography
Jan Matthysen (Wikipedia)
Diplomatic Nicieties (by Veena Thoopkrajae, The Nation-Bangkok)