On June 1, The Swedish Embassy, in cooperation with Volvo Trucks, Ericsson and Oriflame, organized the Swedish National Day celebration at hotel Shangri-La, Jakarta. Among the guests were the Minister for Health, H.E. Endang R. Sedyaningsih and Minister for Women’s Empowerment, H. E. Linda Agum Gumelar.
Apart from celebrating Sweden’s national day, the event also marked this year’s 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Sweden and Indonesia, as well as the upcoming wedding between Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her fiancé Mr Daniel Westling on June 19 this year.
The host for the evening was the ambassador of Sweden to Indonesia H.E. Ms Ewa Polano who welcomed the guests with a speech, highlighting the fine diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries, focusing on the consolidation of democracy and the impressive economic growth in Indonesia and also some words on the award to Stockholm as the “European Green Capital 2010”, the Swedish Expo 2010/Shanghai theme of “Spirit of Innovation” and “Love Stockholm 2010”.
It was also mentioned that Sweden was among the first countries to recognize the state of Indonesia, already on December 29 1949. The speech was followed by the Indonesian and Swedish national anthems and the traditional cutting of the cake.
