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Presenting the new Ambassador of Sweden to Australia HE Henrik Cederin
Photo: Kristian Pohl
HE Mr Henrik Cederin joined the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1991 and has held postings at the Embassies of Sweden in Seoul, Tel Aviv and Tokyo, as well as in the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the European Union in Brussels. Prior to taking up his position as Sweden’s ambassador to Australia in 2019, Mr Cederin served for four years as Sweden’s ambassador to Zambia. 2010-2015 Mr Cederin served as Director and Deputy Head of the Department for Asia and the Pacific Region at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm.
Henrik Cederin also has a background in management consulting and corporate communications, having worked for two leading Swedish consultancies. Henrik Cederin has a degree in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics (1988), went through the United Nations Disarmament Fellowship Programme (1992) and has served on the board of the European Institute of Japanese Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics (2011-2015). Henrik Cederin is born 1963 and is married with one child.
The Embassy
The Embassy of Sweden in Australia’s mission is to represent Sweden and the Swedish government in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Tonga.
Trade and business related issues as well as consular service to Swedish citizens living or travelling in the region are prioritised tasks for the embassy. For support, we also have 16 honorary consulates within the embassy’s geographic area.
The consulates are located in:
Australia: Adelaide (vacant), Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney
New Zealand: Auckland and Wellington
Pacific: Fiji Suva, Papua New Guinea Port Moresby, Solomon Islands Honiara, Samoa Apia, Tonga Nuku’alofa and Vanuatu Port Vila
Farewell and a final update from the Ambassador HE Pär Ahlberger
Dear friends,
The time has come for me to take farewell after five intensive and stimulating years in Oceania. My family and I will return to Sweden in August. As Team Sweden Australia we have relaunched a structured and long term Trade, Investment and Sweden Promotion in the region. We leave an important legacy.
Australia is now Sweden’s 4th largest export market outside Europe. Behind the US, China, and Japan. Our exports to Australia have increased by 57% since 2014. Swedish related companies in Australia have some 20.000 employees, generating 60.000 jobs.
Last year we commemorated 190 years of trade relations between Sweden and Australia. SACC is one of the oldest national chambers of commerce in Australia, soon celebrating its 110th anniversary.
All successful trade promotion is based on three necessary preconditions:
- The local Team Sweden network must have an understanding of the local footprint of the Swedish business community, including the opportunities and challenges.
- The Swedish network must work as a team.
- The team must have jointly identified long term priorities.
These preconditions did not exist in 2014. It was a great weakness. Since then we have taken a series of initiatives to strengthen all these three fundamental factors.
To understand the local footprint
We have presented two Swedish Business Footprint Reports and a Business Climate Survey which have proved invaluable. We also contributed to a Swedish FTA-report. I recommend that the footprint report and the Business Climate Report are updated in 2019 or early 2020.
Teamwork
We have established Team Sweden, a Business Support Office and the obvious honorary role for the Ambassador in the Board of SACC. We have opened chapters of SACC in Melbourne and Perth. I hope Brisbane can also be added to the list. Our Honorary Consuls are engaged more than ever in trade and Sweden promotion. We have organised a series of trade missions. The Swedish Business Awards is now a joint collaboration between the Embassy and SACC. The Embassy contribute with articles to Swedelink. A publication on our proud historic trade relations has been published.
To work with jointly agreed long term priorities
We give priority to the Mining, Health and Defence & Security sectors. We have established a railway cluster. We also focus on the negotiations on Free Trade Agreements and the implementations of the Sustainable Development Goals.
We have, in a similar way relaunched the Sweden Promotion in the region with a few overall themes. The Raoul Wallenberg exhibition To me there’s no other choice toured Australia for four years. The Swedish Dads exhibition and project will now be launched in New Zealand after the success in Australia. The Solander Project is the single most extensive Swedish project in New Zealand ever. It will arrive in Australia in May 2020 and later tour the very north of Sweden. We connect the Arctic and Pacific Regions in a unique way. It was a great privilege to become the first Ambassador of Sweden to the entire South Pacific.
We have certainly achieved a lot. Let me thank you for your friendship and support. It has been a privilege to collaborate with you, also in the loose network “Friends of Pär”. I wish you all the very best for the future.
Pär Ahlberger
Ambassador of Sweden to Oceania
2014 – 2019
