Sweden mobilising efforts to boost global competitiveness and foreign trade

On 2–3 May, Minister for Foreign Affairs Tobias Billström will be in Copenhagen to attend this year’s Nordic-African Foreign Ministers Meeting. The agenda includes peace and security, multilateral cooperation, reform of multilateral institutions and increasing trade and investment.

On 9 April, Minister for Energy, Business and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch and Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Johan Forssell gathered leading actors in Team Sweden for a high-level meeting. The aim was to jointly foster better conditions for improved global competitiveness and foreign trade, and bolster Sweden’s position internationally. The Government organised the meeting to discuss the work already in progress and the joint path forward.

Sweden is a leading donor of development assistance, but meeting the funding needs for a green and digital transition requires closer cooperation between development assistance and trade, greater mobilisation of private capital and harnessing the business sector’s innovation capacity. A current example of this is Sweden’s partnership with Bangladesh, which HRH Crown Princess Victoria visited together with Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Johan Forssell on 18–21 March.

The strategy for Sweden’s trade, investment and global competitiveness was presented on 1 December 2023.

The visit to California will take place on 19–22 February together with Their Royal Highnesses Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel. A business delegation led by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in cooperation with Business Sweden will also take part. Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel’s official visit is taking place at the request of the Government. The aim is to broaden and develop relations with California in the areas of innovation, green transition and emerging technologies, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI). The new Swedish Consulate-General in San Francisco will also be inaugurated in connection with the visit.

A Swedish Consulate-General will open on 1 January 2024 in San Francisco, and its areas of responsibility will include the states of California and Hawaii. The Consulate-General will enhance Sweden’s presence on the west coast of the United States, and the possibilities to conduct active trade and promotion of Sweden’s activities, as well as provide consular support.

The Government has adopted a new trade strategy, with the objective of giving Swedish businesses the best possible conditions to both address emerging challenges and of harness business opportunities that arise in the green and digital transition.

Opinion piece of 30 November 2023 by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba Busch, Minister for Climate and the Environment Romina Pourmokhtari and Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Johan Forssell.