Happy faces at gathering of Latin American ambassadors

On Tuesday Gunnar Wieslander, State Secretary to the Minister for Trade, met the ambassadors from Latin America who are stationed in Stockholm. Gunnar Wieslander will be travelling to Brazil in the near future.
"We have old and intensive relations between our countries and this meeting was an excellent initiative," says the Brazilian Ambassador Antonino Mena Goncalves.

In addition to a welcome toast and a speech by the State Secretary, all the ambassadors who were there had private talks with Mr Wieslander. The mood was high spirited and merry, and most seemed pleased to have the opportunity to bring up their questions about trade relations with the State Secretary. But meetings with fellow ambassadors from the Caribbean, South America and Central America is nothing unusual:
"We usually meet at least once a month," says Mexico's ambassador Norma Pensado Moreno. But for everyone to also get to meet representatives of the Swedish Government is important, as many countries have extensive economic cooperation.
"Mexico has extremely good relations with Sweden. Swedish companies have existed in Mexico for a very long time - Ericsson, for example, has been there since 1904.

"Latin America perhaps receives too little attention"

But despite this Latin America has perhaps received far too little attention, believes Gunnar Wieslander:
"We have been urged not to forget the countries of Latin America. Our trade with them is extensive, so we do not want to forget them, and this meeting is a way of calling attention to the countries' wishes." They will also be meeting Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt in May.
Swedish cooperation with European countries takes a lot of the Government's time.
"Finding time for top-level meetings is not easy. We understand that European cooperation is a major issue of great importance to Sweden and that it takes a lot of time", says Mexican Ambassador Norma Pensado Moreno. But our relations with representatives of the Swedish Government are good, particularly with the Americas Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs."

"The Swedish Queen is important to Brazil"

Brazil's Ambassador, Antonino Mena Gonçalves, agrees that the meeting was a success.
"This is a very good initiative. Both economic and political relations between Sweden and Brazil are good. We hope we can extend our cooperation, and now Mr Wieslander is to travel to Brazil."
This weekend Gunnar Wieslander will in fact be travelling to some countries in Latin America to continue the good cooperation. Later this year there will be more ministerial visits from Sweden. But another Swedish person who is important to Brazilians is Queen Silvia, says Mr Gonçalves.
"Our people think it is important that the Queen of Sweden has one Brazilian parent. The fact that she speaks Portuguese and visits the country at least once a year is extremely significant. She is very popular and an important factor in the countries' relations."

Important to enjoy being in the country

The Mexican Ambassador, Norma Pensado, has been in Sweden for a total of four and a half years, one and half of which as Ambassador.
"I worked here as second in command for a few years and then went home to Mexico. When they asked me if I would like to go back to Sweden as Ambassador it was an offer I could not resist. I like Sweden very much."
Brazil's Antonino Mena Gonçalves agrees, and says that the attitude of the people is very important for an ambassador:
"In Sweden people are very open-minded. They are very pleasant, and that is very important for a diplomat. Feeling good in a country is important to doing one's job in the best way."