Swedish Consul Villy Nielsen receives Royal Knight Order

The Ambassador of Sweden to Indonesia HE Mrs Ewa Polano is visiting Surabaya on May 10-11, 2013.  During her visit, Ambassador Polano on Friday presented the exclusive Royal Decoration – the Insignia of Knight of Royal Order of the Polar Star Award to  Mr. Villy Nielsen, who has served as Sweden’s Honorary Consul of East Java for 20 years.

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Sweden has a long presence in Surabaya and opened its first Consulate in the city in December 1966. Mr. Villy Nielsen was appointed Sweden’s Consul for Surabaya and East Java in 1993, and his wife Linda Nielsen has been serving as Sweden’s Vice Consul for the past 6 years. Mr. Nielsen is also former Danish Consul in Surabaya, an honor which in 2011 passed on to his wife Linda.

Mr. Nielsen was honored with the Polar Star Award at a ceremony on Friday 10 May in the presence of the Vice Governor of East Java Drs. H. Saifullah Yusuf, the Mayor of Surabaya Madam Ir. Tri Rismaharini. MT, The Consular Corps of East Java and a number of other dignitaries and the Consul at the Embassy of Sweden in Jakarta, Mr. Björn Lidell.

Ambassador Polano has expressed her full satisfaction on behalf of the Swedish Government for the dedicated work carried out by Consul Villy Nielsen and the loyalty that Consul Villy Nielsen together with his wife Linda Nielsen, who is Honorary Consul of Denmark and has also served as Vice Consul of Sweden, have shown Sweden and its citizens throughout the years.

Consul Villy Nielsen remarked, that both he and his wife, Vice Consul Linda Nielsen have been honoured and pleased to serve Sweden in Surabaya for the past many years. He also expressed his gratitude for the decoration he has been awarded by the Swedish Government, as well as earlier decorations bestowed on both his wife Linda Nielsen and himself.

During her visit, Ambassador Polano also plans to meet with the Vice Governor of East Java, Drs. H. Saifullah, The Major of Surabaya, Madam Ir. Tri Rismaharini, MT, and the Rector of the Ciputra University Mr. Ir. Tony Antonio. M. Eng in Surabaya as well as with Jawa Pos.

At Ambassador Polano’s meetings with the local Government of East Java and Surabaya, she will focus on Sweden’s interest to intensify cooperation with this province and the City of Surabaya in the areas of infrastructure, education and health care. She will present the Swedish sustainable city concept “SYMBIO CITY”. This concept fits very well into the impressive plans on sustainable urban planning that Surabaya already has underway.

 

About Gregers Møller

Editor-in-Chief • ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok, Thailand

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