Swedish embassy celebrates national day

AMMAN — The Embassy of Sweden on Monday in Amman organised a reception on the occasion of the Kingdom of Sweden’s national day.

The reception, which was attended by a number of Jordanian officials, partners and friends of the Swedish embassy, including members of the Royal family, aimed to present Sweden and Swedish culture through several activities including a piano performance by Swedish pianist Johan Graden and a selection of Swedish foods and products, according to an embassy statement. 

Ambassador of Sweden since September 2020, Alexandra Rydmark, in her welcome remarks emphasised the “excellent ties” between the kingdoms and their peoples.

“Sweden and Jordan share many common values and aspirations — of humanism, of safeguarding a strong multilateral system, and our common believes in the importance of diplomacy and dialogue in challenging times,” Rydmark said.

Explaining what June 6 means to Sweden, Rydmark elaborated that “[today] we are celebrating our democracy, our constitution with the cornerstones of democracy and human rights, equality between men and women, we celebrate our press freedom, which dates back to the 18th century and which has enabled us to become the number two in the world in terms of innovation, a strong civil society, our constitutional monarchy, our quest for a greener and more sustainable future with the goal of becoming the world’s first fossil-free welfare state, our common history, language and the culture we are creating and re-creating — which makes Sweden what it is today, and which makes our foreign policy and global engagement what is today.” 

The Embassy of Sweden was opened in Jordan in 1981 and Sweden’s Middle East/Northern Africa regional development cooperation programme was started in 2006.