The decoration ceremony took place in Miami on January 18 at a reception hosted by Honorary Consul General Trond S. Jensen and Consul General in Houston Svein Holst Andreassen.
"His Majesty has honored Olaf L. Halvorssen in recognition of his his social and humanitarian work in North and South America, his fund-raising work to fight alcohol and drug addiction as well as his contribution to develop advanced technology for authentification of products and protection against swindle and fraud," Andreassen said in his speech at the ceremony.
Halvorssen's company, Authentix, uses advanced technology to authenticate products, such as pharmaceuticals and tobacco and spirits, in order to reduce the occurrence of fraud, deception and pirate copying.
Halvorssen was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and educated in the United States, where he currently resides. In Venezuela, his organization, Venezuela Sin Limites, works to address the short-term needs of thousands of needy children as well as to introduce the notion of solidarity into the Venezuelan society.
The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit was instituted on June 14, 1985, by the late King Olav V. According to its statutes, the Order is to be conferred on foreign nationals in recognition of particularly meritorious services rendered in the furtherance of Norwegian interests.