Sweden reopening embassy in PH

The Swedish government is reopening its embassy in Manila as it sought to re-establish economic and foreign diplomatic relations with the Philippines.

Having an embassy here is expected to help Sweden promote and develop bilateral relations with the Philippines, and make Sweden more known in the Philippines. Another major task for the embassy will be to provide consular services to Swedish residents and citizens who are temporarily visiting the country. The embassy will be led by an ambassador, a Swedish diplomat, and eight local staff.

An official notice showed that the inauguration ceremony for the new Embassy of Sweden would be held on Tuesday to be led by Mikael Damberg, Minister of Enterprise and Innovation at Sweden and Swedish Ambassador-designate Harald Fries. They will be accompanied by a delegation of key Swedish businessmen and officials.

There are already a number of Swedish brands and investments in the Philippines, the most popular of which is H&M. There are also a number of companies located in the economic zones managed by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza).

Last year, Bases Conversion and Development Authority forged a partnership with the Swedish government and foreign private firms to develop and build the Clark Green City. The memorandum of understanding was signed with IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), a foundation jointly owned by the government of Sweden and Swedish industry; ElectriCITY, a nonprofit organization composed of major firms operating in Sweden, and Xeric AB (Xeric), which specializes in providing business consultancy services for small and medium enterprises.