Herbert Ribbing

Bo Herbert Bosson Ribbing (8 July 1897 – 30 December 1985) was a Swedish diplomat. Ribbing began his diplomatic career in 1922 as an attaché at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, shortly thereafter serving in Paris. During the 1920s, he held a series of posts across Europe, including assignments in Koblenz, Düsseldorf, London, Riga, Tallinn, Kaunas, and Helsinki, often serving as first legation secretary or chargé d’affaires ad interim. He was actively involved in international diplomacy early on, assisting Sweden’s representation at the League of Nations and participating in Nordic and Geneva Protocol negotiations.

In 1936, Ribbing became director of the Trade Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He subsequently served as legation counsellor in Paris (1938) and Washington, D.C. (1942). From 1944, he was Sweden’s envoy to several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras. He later served as envoy and then ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay (1949–1957), and as ambassador to Spain from 1958 to 1963.

Ribbing also held significant roles within the United Nations, acting as mediator in conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Oman (1960), reviewing sovereignty issues in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman (1963), and mediating the Cambodian–Thai border dispute (1966–1968). Additionally, he was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague (1967–1979) and part of the Swedish–Spanish Conciliation Commission from 1967.