A world-class foreign service - A more flexible foreign representation SOU 2009:01

The Inquiry finds that for its activities the Swedish Government needs a well-placed,
active and smoothly operating international network serving Swedish interests. The task
of the foreign representation has essentially always been to protect Swedish interests and
provide various forms of service to Swedish nationals. The main tasks and geographical
focus, however, have varied over the years. Missions abroad deal with a broad range of
assignments on behalf of the Ministry, administrative tasks and supporting activities. In
some respects they can be regarded as a branch of Government Offices political
operations, while in other respects they are independent entities with administrative
responsibilities towards individual people.