Ministry for Foreign Affairs

On 21 January 2025, Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard and Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer travelled to Ankara to launch Sweden and Türkiye’s bilateral security dialogue, Security Compact. In talks with their Turkish counterparts, joint efforts to combat terrorism and cross-border organised crime and current international affairs were discussed.

On 23–24 January, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa will receive UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, who is visiting Stockholm. His agenda includes a meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Swedish civil society organisations and Swedish companies working with humanitarian issues. Discussions will focus on the humanitarian crises in Ukraine, Gaza, Syria and Sudan.

The Strategy will apply in 2025–2029 and is worth a total of SEK 1.5 billion.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard and Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer will travel to Ankara on 21 January to launch Sweden and Türkiye’s bilateral security dialogue, Security Compact. During the meeting the ministers will discuss security cooperation and international affairs.

In 2025, the 250th anniversary of established Jewish life in Sweden will be celebrated. This will be an opportunity to highlight the Jewish minority, culture and cultural heritage throughout the country. The Government has therefore, in appropriation directions for 2025, instructed a number of government agencies to help highlight the 250th anniversary. The year 2025 also marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

The Government has decided to invest SEK 4.3 billion in global health and increased sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Sida has been tasked with implementing a five-year strategy for Sweden’s development cooperation in the area of health and sexual and reproductive health and rights from 2025 to 2029.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard, along with her Nordic and Baltic colleagues, has written a letter urging the EU Commission proposing to lower the oil price cap within the G7.

Speech by Minister For Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard at the Folk och Försvar Annual National Conference 12 January 2025. Check against delivery.

Joint Statement by Nordic Baltic Foreign Ministers on energy situation in the Republic of Moldova, January 7, 2025

Joint Statement by Nordic Baltic Foreign Ministers on Situation in Georgia, 29 December 2024.

This compilation contains a selection of the acts and ordinances – both new and amended – that enter into force in the second half of 2024 or in early 2025.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Elinor Hammarskjöld as Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel. Ms Hammarskjöld currently serves as Director-General for Legal Affairs and Head of the Directorate-General for Legal Affairs at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The Government has decided to allocate SEK 800 million to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the region. Sweden is also continuing its support to the response in Gaza through extensive core support to a number of key humanitarian actors. The Government’s core support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will be discontinued.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States to counteract foreign malign information influence activities. The agreement is an important platform for closer cooperation and exchange of experience between Sweden and the US in this area.

The Swedish Government has decided to provide SEK 40 million to the efforts of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Gaza. This support will go to essential items for the winter, protection, access to education and psychosocial support.

Experiences and Lessons Learned

Summary of the Report of the All-Party Committee of Inquiry on Sweden’s Engagement in Afghanistan 2001–2021 (SOU 2024:92).

The Government has decided to provide a maximum of SEK 258 million (approximately USD 25.06 million) to the Asian Development Fund (ADF). These new funds will support long-term economic development and poverty reduction in the poorest and most vulnerable developing countries in Asia and the Pacific region.

Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa is visiting Israel and Palestine on 16–18 December to get an updated picture of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, and to hold talks on humanitarian access and support.

Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, was hit by a Russian robot attack earlier this year. The Government then expressed its intention to support the reconstruction of the hospital with almost SEK 10 million to match the amount collected by Beredskapslyftet in private financing. The first part of the support is now being disbursed through a grant of SEK 3 million. Together with the SEK 3 million from the business sector, the aid will go towards equipment and training to secure functioning hospital beds at the children’s hospital, enable vital care and strengthen preparedness for possible patient evacuations.