Press Release (98)104 21 Sept. 1998

New NATO Assistant Secretary General for Infrastructure, Logistics and Civil Emergency Planning The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Dr. Javier Solana, announces the appointment of Mr. ivind BKKEN as Assistant Secretary General for Infrastructure, Logistics and Civil Emergency Planning. Mr. BKKEN was born on 20th November 1945 in Oslo, Norway. He joined the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence in 1976 after receiving his Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Oslo. He also studied previously in the United States (the Haverford College Preparatory School, Haverford, Pennsylvania) and in Switzerland (Eigdenssische Technische Hochschule, Zrich). He worked initially with Armaments in the Ministry of Defence and was appointed Head of the Procurement Division in 1982. Also in 1982 he graduated from NATO Defense College in Rome. In 1983 he joined the Norwegian Delegation to NATO where he was reponsible for Armaments, Air Defence and Logistics. In 1986 he was appointed Deputy Director General for Plans and Budgets in the Ministry of Defence. He rejoined the Materiel Department in 1988 as Deputy Director General and Deputy Armaments Director. In this capacity he represented Norway in the NATO Air Defence Committee and on the ACCS Board of Directors. Mr. BKKEN was appointed Director General of Materiel in 1990 and served in 1990-1996 as the Norwegian National Representative and National Armaments Director both to the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) in NATO and to the Western European Armaments Group (WEAG). In 1995 and 1996 he was Dean both of the CNAD and the WEAG. In 1993 he was appointed Director General for Defence Resources (Personnel, Armaments, Infrastructure). His international responsibilities included the NATO Resource Board and other high level NATO committees. He rejoined the Norwegian Delegation to NATO as Defence Adviser in 1996. In 1997 he was re-appointed Director General and Special Adviser to the Minister of Resource Management in the Ministry of Defence.