With her ambassador role in Vietnam coming to an end this summer Ambassador Camilla Mellander has written her final Swedish National Day open letter to the Vietnamese people.
“Swedes all over the world celebrate the Swedish National Day on June 6. On this occasion, allow me to share a few highlights of the Swedish-Vietnamese relations as well as on Sweden’s position in the international arena.
Today, we face new emerging challenges and conflicts are more complex and multidimensional. Managing these requires multifaceted solutions. Sweden’s candidacy for the UN Security Council for the period 2017- 2018 is an expression of our readiness to take responsibility for promoting peace, security and sustainable development in the world.
More than 80,000 Swedish women and men have served in UN peacekeeping operations, we are the number one per capita donor to the Green Climate Fund, the sixth largest donor to the UN globally and our development assistance exceeds 1 per cent of our Gross National Income. We are the sixth largest provider of assessed and voluntary contributions to the UN.
Sweden is also a very innovative country found at the top of global innovation indexes year after year. Sweden is the birthplace of many successful companies such as ABB, Electrolux, Tetra Pak, AstraZeneca, SKF, Volvo, Ericsson and IKEA. More recent innovations are Skype, Spotify and Bluetooth and we are also big in the gaming sector with well-known games such as Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga. Swedish products are known for long lasting, excellent quality and for low life-cycle cost. Around 60 Swedish companies are already well-established here, but we see a new surge of interest from Swedish companies that are now looking at Viet Nam, from big multinational to medium and small-sized enterprises. The Embassy together with Business Sweden is working actively to support those entering or expanding into the Vietnamese market, and the EU-Viet NamFree Trade Agreement entering into force in 2018 will open up further trade opportunities.
Sweden is the country of the Nobel Prize and has a proud history of academic research and excellence. I am happy to see that the number of bright and talented Vietnamese students studying in Sweden is increasing. In Sweden you are not only able to study in English but also encouraged to think critically and ‘outside the box’. University teachers encourage students to seek new perspectives and come up with new solutions.
For all countries the crucial question is how to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability and how to protect the quality of air, land and water. Sweden has a very good international reputation for innovative and sustainable solutions in the environmental field. As a way to inspire environmental solutions, the Embassy of Sweden this year launched a nationwide Smart Water Innovation Contest. The aim was to motivate Vietnamese students in higher education to take on sustainable development and climate change challenges and to come up with water related innovations. We received many good proposals and identified a winning team which will be awarded with a trip to Sweden to attend the World Water Week in Stockholm in August this year.”
Example URL with full text Swedish National Day letter from Ambassador Camilla Mellander: www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2016/06/vietnam-and-swedens-strong-relationship/
