Africa gathers for summit

The African Union winter summit in Addis Ababa culminates this weekend with a meeting of the heads of state and government of the Member States. Sudan and Somalia are two burning issues on the agenda. State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Frank Belfrage is representing Sweden at the meeting. Read Ambassador Jens Odlander's reflections on the summit in the blog Från Afrikas horn ('From the Horn of Africa'; in Swedish only).

• AU toppmöte och Kadaffis tält
• African Union website

Regarding the murder of LGBT activist David Kato in Uganda

Ugandan police have confirmed that one of Uganda's leading LGBT activists, David Kato, was murdered in his home on Wednesday.

• Regarding the murder of LGBT activist David Kato in Uganda

Gunilla Carlsson spoke at Humanitarian Funding Conference

Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson was the main speaker at a high-level conference on humanitarian funding held yesterday by the UN. The purpose of the conference was to draw attention to growing humanitarian needs on a global scale and to give individual countries the opportunity to disclose their levels of humanitarian aid for 2011. In her address, the Minister emphasised the importance of results and accountability in humanitarian aid. Ms Carlsson presented the Swedish humanitarian aid for 2011, which amounts to SEK 4.6 billion. Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos also spoke at the conference.

• Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson's speech at Humanitarian Funding Conference, Geneva, 25 January

Carl Bildt and Gunilla Carlsson travel to Davos

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) gets under way today in Davos, Switzerland. The forum brings together leaders from various specialist fields to discuss how the world can be made a better place. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Minister for Finance Anders Borg, Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt and Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson will be there to represent the Swedish Government. The theme of this year's meeting is 'Shared Norms for the New Reality'. This year's meeting is the 41st of its kind, and close to 35 heads of state and government, a large number of ministers, almost 900 business leaders and others are expected to take part.

• Program World Economic Forum i Davos

Bildt: "The world must talk about Internet security"

We must have an international dialogue on freedom and security on the Internet and on countries' attempts to restrict citizens' access to information. This is the view of Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, who will be giving the issue priority over the coming years.
"We must have a far more vigorous international debate on what to do, and we must intensify international cooperation and develop the international legal regimes," says Mr Bildt.

• Read full article

Gunilla Carlsson meets new head of UN-Habitat

Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson today met the new Executive Director of the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements (UN-Habitat), Joan Clos. Ms Carlsson welcomed Dr Clos as the new head of the organisation, and stressed the important role played by cities in efforts for global and sustainable development.

"We must be clear in our opposition to Lukashenko"

The EU must clearly demonstrate its opposition to oppression in Belarus. This was the view expressed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt on Wednesday, after he and Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson met a group of opposition politicians from the country.

• News Article: "We must be clear in our opposition to Lukashenko"

The sacrifices were not in vain

Carl Bildt writes in an op-ed that this year marks 20 years since Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were able to regain their independence.
"But that it was far from obvious that this would be the case we are reminded, not least, today - 20 years after fourteen people lost their lives, crushed by Soviet tanks at the television tower in Vilnius."

• Read the entire op-ed: The sacrifices were not in vain

Anniversary of earthquake disaster in Haiti

Today marks one year since a major earthquake hit Haiti. The earthquake caused extensive devastation. An estimated 250 000 people died and 1.5 million were made homeless. The international community was relatively quickly able provide emergency measures for survival and essential medical care. Sweden provides humanitarian support to the country through a number of different initiatives.

• Read more about Sweden's support to Haiti

Lukashenko the loser

There can be no business-as-usual between Belarus and the EU after Sunday´s presidential election and the events that followed. So writes Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt and his colleagues from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany in an op-ed published in the International Herald Tribune. There is no way of knowing what the real result of the election is, but the announced result has no democratic legitimacy whatsoever, write the four foreign ministers.

• Read the article here