Throughout his diplomatic career, Friedman served as the Ambassador of Sweden to Argentina, the Holy See, Uruguay, Malta, Liberia, the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Mauritius.
He also held the position of consul general in New York City from 1978 to 1983, where he lived at Sweden's Park Avenue residence.
From 1973, he served as ambassador to Monrovia, Abidjan, Conakry, and Freetown, adding Bissau and Praia in 1974,[1] and later Addis Ababa, Aden, Antananarivo, from 1976, and Port Louis from 1977.
[2] In 1978, Friedman was named consul general in New York City,[1] where he hosted numerous prominent public figures and Nobel laureates, including Fritz Albert Lipmann, André Frédéric Cournand, Severo Ochoa, Stanford Moore, Tjalling Koopmans, James Watson, and Alfred Hershey.
Friedman was active in Cabinet Skåne, an association for retired foreign ministry officials living in Scania.