John Bjørnebye is a Norwegian diplomat.

He was born in Tromsø

Tromsø

Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...

, and is a cand.philol. by education. He started working for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway...

 in 1970. He served as the Norwegian consul-general in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 from 1989 to 1994, and then as the Norwegian ambassador to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 from 1994 to 1999. After two years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was the Norwegian ambassador to Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

from 2001 to 2005.