Dialogue with Professor Muhammad Yunus

On April 15, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Professor Muhammad Yunus speaks with Ambassador and Mrs. Brzezinski

On Saturday, we were honored to host the father of social business and micro-finance, Professor Muhammad Yunus, for a two-hour dialogue on diversity, empowering women through entrepreneurship and helping society through financially-sustainable, long-term measures.

Professor Yunus’s visit to Stockholm was sponsored by the Postkod Lotteriet, and directly from here he was traveling on to Washington, D.C. where he would be receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. As a testament to his visionary status, he is only one of seven people in history to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold medal.

Beyond titles and awards, Professor Yunus radiates positive energy and lights up a room. The moment our guests began to arrive, you could sense the way they were drawn to him and the joy he took in interacting with a dynamic array of guests from some of Sweden’s most successful entrepreneurs, CEO’s and venture capitalists to governmental development aid experts from SIDA or two teenage girls from Rinkeby (a suburb outside of Stockholm with a high population of immigrants and political refugees). Our two female students from Rinkeby Akademien, budding entrepreneurs in their own right, made such an impact on the event with the articulate manner they introduced themselves and engaged in the dialogue!

Around a large dining room table, Professor Yunus described the genesis of Grameen Bank and its goal of helping the poorest people lift themselves out of poverty by providing small loans and imparting basic financial principles. Much of Yunus’s work focused on empowering women, so much so that he has been named an honorary woman in Bangladesh, a fact he shared with us smiling gleefully!

Many of our guests had the chance to ask questions ranging from how the micro-finance model can be extended to entrepreneurs in the Islamic world to the digital future of using cell phones as ways to perform ultrasounds or test your eyes in the developing world where in many nations access to nurses and hospitals is sorely lacking. Time and again, Professor Yunus interjected a common theme: one person can make a lasting impact on any social challenge through creativity and sheer determination. When youth unemployment was mentioned, he mischievously looked many of us in the eye around the table and exclaimed: one of you can hire one person, just one, and make a difference!

At a time when social entrepreneurship is the buzzword of the moment, it can be stultifying that Professor Yunus catalyzed the concept and model more than 37 years ago. In fact, he told me that in 1987 he was called up by a Governor from a very poor state in America to try to solve the challenges of poverty through a business model. That man was Governor Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, headed up the initiative. Yunus has had a long relationship with Clintons since then, and this is a shining example of the shared values between the U.S. and many of its global partners on the challenges we face today. For me, it was so special to host Professor Yunus in Stockholm because Sweden has such a rich legacy of generosity in development aid and strong core of social justice. What a wonderful evening we all spent being inspired by this great man!

You can see more photos from the event on the US Embassy Flickr page!

 

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A Visit to Nellis Air Force Base With Swedish Friends

On January 28, 2013, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Ambassador Brzezinski and the Swedish delegation at Red Flag at Nellis AFB.

“Red Flag”. In the world of military aviation, those words are synonymous with excellence in flying training and development. This past Thursday, I had the unique honor to accompany Mr. Carl von der Esch, the State Secretary for the Swedish Ministry of Defense, Ms. Lena Erixon, the Director General of the Swedish Defense Material Administration, Mr. Jonas Hafstrom, the Swedish Ambassador to the US, and other Swedish officials on a visit to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The purpose of our visit was to learn about Red Flag and to bear witness to the Swedish Air Force’s participation in this elite exercise. The US Air Force’s Warfare Center hosts Red Flag, and invites foreign military participation. The Swedes brought pilots, maintenance personnel and support teams, and of course Saab’s JAS Gripen aircraft. In all, the Swedes had 112 personnel and 8 JAS Gripen aircraft taking part in this prestigious exercise. As US Ambassador to Sweden, it was really nice for me to see the JAS Gripen aircraft lined up on the tarmac, right next to our USAF F-16s.

I can not emphasize enough the following: the Swedish Air Force was not invited to Red Flag as a casual courtesy. Instead, the Swedish Air Force and their pilots earned their seat at the Red Flag table. By performing ably in operations like Unified Protector over Libya, where the Swedish Air Force performed their reconnaissance role brilliantly, the Swedes have shown their capacity and ability to produce results. At Nellis, we met with the Swedish pilots and support personnel. Talking with them, with the roar of jet engines in the background, was a memorable moment for me.

Our host at Nellis, USAF Major General Lofgren (a Swedish American!), organized a terrific program that gave us a window into the thinking that underpins Red Flag. While bad weather (it rained for the first time in months!) prevented many from flying that day, we learned so much through our interactions. And we also had the awesome opportunity to meet some of the incomparable USAF Thunderbirds and their maintenance technicians. The Thunderbirds have flown in aviation shows all over the world. I hope one day they bring their talents to Sweden.

One final word about Red Flag, as US Ambassador I am privileged to work with public servants every day. In my mind, the US military is pretty unmatchable. The sacrifice, the professionalism, and the commitment to duty of our fellow citizens in uniform is awesome. I saw that again at Nellis. I humbly salute them, and thank them for their remarkable sacrifice.

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Connecting with Youth on Questions of Identity

On November 1, 2012, in Sweden, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Meeting with Swedish youth at the Embassy

“I thought diplomats were all older white men, it was so great to see women and young people today while visiting the Embassy.”

 
This comment by a young, female Somali student from Malmö, Sweden struck me as the core of the challenges for cross-cultural outreach: battling misconceptions and putting a compassionate human face on diplomacy.

The Embassy team has been working tirelessly and effectively to organize authentic meetings and discussions with young people from diverse backgrounds. The point is not to talk at them, but to listen and listen some more. Such an event was organized yesterday to open up the Embassy doors to Somali high school students, let them ask questions of the Ambassador, tour the Embassy, hear what diplomats do and just connect on an authentic, people-to-people level.

I attended the lunch portion of a half-day program, and was thrilled by the open level of communication, laughter and conversations going on. I sat with four sharp young women who told me of their dreams of becoming a nurse, how they wanted to go help people in the Horn of Africa or the things they both admired and disliked about images and pop culture coming out of America. I know that it’s not always easy to be frank with older “authority-type” figures especially in what can be an intimidating setting— a U.S. Embassy— but the Embassy team created such a warm, welcoming setting that made everyone feel comfortable and able to really share their views.

One recurring theme we picked up was a lack of role models. One young man told us that he had chosen vocational training to be a plumber although it’s not where his passion lies only because he had no one to go to for professional advice or any role models that “look like him” to give him motivation.

This topic blended into an evening discussion that same day by the nascent Embassy Youth Council, called “You Tell U.S.” The goal of this dynamic initiative is to bring a diverse set of young Swedes together and once again, to really listen. We gather roughly once a month over chips and soft drinks, and the theme of each evening is not set by the Embassy but by the young guests:
What does it mean to be Swedish? What is the relationship between national identity and cultural or religious identity? How can we make newcomers feel like they truly belong? Is it possible to compare Swedish and American models when it comes to integration, or are we coming from fundamentally different foundations?

These were a few of the fascinating questions that we debated with the help of Kadra,

a young Somali grass-roots community leader from Minneapolis, Minnesota who Mark had actually met with on his trip to visit the Swedish and Somali diaspora in Minnesota earlier this month. Kadra helped lead the discussions by describing the entrepreneurial spirit of the Somali community in Minnesota as well as the challenges for her organizational efforts, which included a lack of role models and a need for institutionalization.

What ensued was an incredibly vibrant discussion among a group of Swedish youth political leaders, entrepreneurs and activists both immigrants and non-immigrants that went on far beyond the two hours initially set aside for the evening. Toward the end, the conversation took an introspective turn as each of us discussed what it meant to be a Swede, or to be an American. Couldn’t people in a certain nation agree to be diverse but also agree to have shared national values, like democracy or individual freedom?

Despite both consensus and wide disagreements, the evening demonstrated that part of the answer lies in the discussion. And I look forward to learning more from these talented young people at the next “You Tell U.S.” evening.

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Visiting Fryshuset: A Haven for Young People

On September 13, 2012, in Mark, Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Summer has left us with barely a whisper, and September has ushered in a wave of heightened engagement and energized activity. Yesterday in the crisp Fall sunshine, we visited arguably one of the largest youth activity centers in the world, Fryshuset. Youth engagement focused around open dialogue, inclusivity and tolerance is a pillar for U.S. Embassy Stockholm’s outreach and a personal passion of mine. In a week where the United States diplomatic community has faced such tremendous losses, the work Fryshuset performs is an unparalleled public service to ensure a safer future.

Stepping into the grand corridors of what was an old freezing warehouse [hence the name “Fryshuset”], we saw these objectives come to life in the inspiring work Fryshuset, its 400 employees and more than 2,000 youth participate in on a daily basis. It was an astoundingly motivational afternoon, and forced me to ask myself: How can I be a better citizen? What more can I do to give back and affect positive change?

Passion and proactivity serve as the foundation for the authentic relationships Fryshuset’s employees seek to form with the almost 15,000 youth they reach in 3 cities— Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo— within Sweden. Passion brings young people together around sports, theater or music, and proactivity, or the will to act and act swiftly and decisively, creates a cohesive responsiveness on the side of the volunteers and employees to help young people realize their identities and reject extremism and violence.

Fryshuset was founded 30 years ago for a group of kids who desperately needed a place to gather and play basketball. Today, the massive complex has two large basketball courts where concerts are often held, vast spaces for conferences, a bright cafeteria and three schools. They have a fantastic basketball team, with 50 percent female participation, who were shooting 3-pointers with ease as we toured the facilities.

Fryshuset employs a holistic approach toward youth engagement with specific niche programs that cut to the core of relating with young people. “Easy Street” is aimed at youth ensconced in gangs and employs former gang members and other young people from similar communities to connect with the young people in need. “Scenarios” utilized short feature films to address gender issues, and there is also a separate program to connect with and provide guidance to young people trapped in right-wing extremist and Neo-Nazi groups.

Fryshuset sensed there was a bubbling issue with right-wing extremism, and the non-profit along with the government, really focused on reaching out to these young people and giving them a new sense of purpose and identity. According to counselors at Fryshuset, there is also a great level of cooperation with American non-profits focusing on similar issues, and many of the counselors we met with had just returned from a fact-finding, informational trip to New York City. Thanks to grants by the U.S. Embassy here, Fryshuset is sending a group of young people to New York City in the spring to further these efforts and discuss best practices in an interfaith setting.

Fostering a common ground based on our similarities as human beings not our differences, is one way the counselors at Fryshuset have been able to use their programs to galvanize interfaith dialogue and combat gangs, right-wing extremism and hate crimes. Their embrace of diversity could be seen in the mystical stained-glass windows emblazoned with a diverse set of religious symbols images that adorned the courts and shone over the children playing each day as a living symbol. Standing in a circle with a young Imam from Jordan, a female priest, a Swede of immigrant background who studied criminal justice in New York City and several Swedes who grew up in Stockholm, I felt a sense of pride at how far we have come as global citizens and also that there is a strong acknowledgement of the hard work we still need to do and a strong will to do it.

Today, Americans everywhere are mourning for the loss of our public servants in Libya, but hopefully we can come together around a unity of purpose to overcome hate and continue to believe in our shared humanity.

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An evening honoring courage & sacrifice 

On May 24, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nina Lagergren

This week I had the honor of being invited to an evening championing personal freedom and basic human rights around the world. The headline speaker for the Stockholm 2012 Leadership for Human Rights event was the renowned Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a man who personifies courage in the face of repression and the ideal of not being indifferent to human need.

 
The event was sponsored by Sweden’s eminent “PostkodLotteriet”—a for-profit organization leading the way in philanthropic and socially responsible efforts—  and also included speeches by Ambassador Jan Eliasson, who has been newly appointed as Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations as well as two-time Oscar winning actor Sean Penn, now Ambassador-at-large for Haiti.

 
Walking up to the great Concert Hall, I could not help imaging the scores of brilliant men and women who have walked those cobbled stones to accept their Nobel Prize. This feeling was amplified by the powerful humming music and stunning arrangement of gigantic poster-sized faces of men and women around the world from Africa to Belarus fighting for human dignity visible as guests walked up to the grand entrance of the building.

 
The evening was beautifully choreographed to include art, music, poetry and visual mediums interlaced with powerful speeches to underscore the plight of the repressed. Video interviews ranging from the wife of a Belarussian activist who has disappeared,  to rural Cambodian women whose land, and therefore livelihood, is being taken away by the government in order to be sold to private developers for big profit.
Sean Penn delivered a moving reading of Kerry Kennedy’s book “Speak Truth to Power” and I must shamefully admit shaking Sean Penn’s hand and speaking to him briefly was a highlight of the evening not only because he is famous and charming but because one could really feel his fierce passion on these issues.

But the man who charged the room with emotion was Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  His sheer presence and grace brought tears to my eyes. The way he spoke about his experiences standing up to apartheid but also fighting for those with AIDS, tuberculosis and other socially marginalized groups in South Africa injected an energy toward activism in the room that was palpable. One of the most touching moments, captured by the photo in this blog, was seeing the sister of Raoul Wallenberg, Nina Lagergren, relating with the Archbishop in a way that seemed as if they had known each other their entire lives. Wallenberg was also a man who refused to be indifferent to hatred, and is a national Swedish hero who the U.S. Embassy has most recently celebrated by planting a tree in his honor in front of the U.S. Ambassadorial residence. Nina has dedicated much of her life to celebrating his legacy and championing human dignity, and you could see the instant connection she had with the Archbishop around those universal principles.

Ultimately, as Ambassador Jan Eliasson expertly put it in his incredible speech: although we all celebrate our respective national independence days with much fanfare the world is now interdependent. We need an “interdependence day” where we demonstrate “passion and compassion” in order to effect change and enforce human dignity around the world. I could not think of a greater call to action than that!

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Human rights & Human Dignity

On May 23, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer addresses the audience

Yesterday afternoon I had the unique privilege of introducing Margot Wallstrom, the Secretary General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict at the United Nations, at a seminar for transatlantic challenges organized by the American Chamber of Commerce.

Unfortunately, even in today’s modern world, rape continues to be a tool of political intimidation and warfare. Empowering women in conflict zones to speak out against these atrocities is “a human rights issue, not a women’s issue,” according to Wallstrom. Consequently, global peace and stability will never occur until we empower women to have a seat at the negotiating table in peacekeeping efforts.

Wallstrom is an innovative leader who has made her own path in her career, and never chosen the easiest or most accepted route. She molded her work to fit her convictions, her family life and her creativity, and has mentored younger women to lead from a place of authenticity like as well.

Wallstrom shared the stage with Lanny Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General and Head of the Criminal Division who was introduced first by Mark. Lanny delineated his work on enforcing anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, and the historic uptick of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecutions under the Obama Administration.

Although the work Lanny and Margot do seems to have little in common on the surface, in fact, both of them are fighting for human dignity, fairness and democratic values. In the wake of the Arab Spring, there is an outcry for transparency and fair treatment of all individuals and this is the common thread evident in both Margot and Lanny’s work.

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Looking to the Future

On April 27, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Mrs. Natalia Brzezinski, Special Adviser for Innovation Alec Ross and Sweden's Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt

Recently, I’ve participated in two distinct forums with a recurring theme: focusing on innovative solutions to the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Nothing epitomizes these challenges and opportunities like the Internet. Whether the Internet will be a force for positive change and progress or for repression and tyranny is the worrisome question facing governments, policymakers, businesses and the citizens around the world that it has finally given a voice and outlet to.

This is a pivotal issue and we were so pleased to host our friend Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton’s senior advisor for innovation, last week to shine some light on it. Alec came to attend Stockholm’s Internet conference on Internet Freedom spearheaded by Foreign Minister Bildt, an early and enthusiastic pioneer on this issue. Both Ross and Bildt gave prescient and insightful speeches and sat on a panel together addressing questions on how to positively harness the Internet for international development, freedom from political repression and economic progress.

The theme of the day really struck a chord with me as I truly believe the language of individuality, openness and expression espoused by social media and the identity of the Internet writ large is universal and increasingly becoming more integral to self-identity for the young generation than the language of their homeland. The Arab Spring brought this to the forefront, and even today we see young Egyptians from across the political and religious spectrum fighting for common values of transparency, anti-corruption and opportunity for all.

Ensuring the future for the young generation by harnessing our common values was a key theme at another event I attended yesterday.  Save the Children in collaboration with Unicef organized an inspiring seminar on children’s rights and business principles. I attended at the invitation of Ambassador Lisa Svensson, Sweden’s dynamic Ambassador for Corporate Responsibility and the youngest Ambassador in the Foreign Ministry.

Protecting and supporting children around the world is a passion of Queen Silvia’s, and Her Majesty gave a strong set of opening remarks calling on businesses to take greater responsibility for the lives of children and safeguard their rights through the ten principles developed by the United Nations “Global Compact” on corporate responsibility.

Sweden has a cultural legacy of helping those in need, and it’s no surprise that its companies are consistently ranked as having the highest levels of corporate responsibility through carefully developed and targeted programs. Many of the corporations here have been able to strike a healthy balance between making money while doing something good for society.

Children’s rights are directly tied to levels of female empowerment since women are predominantly responsible for the livelihood of young children in the developing world. If women are able to make their own money, it’s been proven that they will use that money to educate their children. For this reason, I believe promoting women’s entrepreneurship is critical to the plight of children.

It was incredibly heartening to learn about the large-scale initiatives many Swedish companies are enacting to help women start their own businesses, secure loans and get their goods to the marketplace.

In places like Bangladesh, H & M is educating women on their rights such as simply asking for maternity leave and safe places to breastfeed. While touring Ericsson’s headquarters last week at the invitation of two of its top female Vice Presidents, I learned of the many ways Ericsson is empowering women in Africa, for example, through the “Connect to Learn” initiative that brings women and children quick access to broadband. In partnership with the UN Development Program, IKEA is sponsoring the education and empowerment of women in over 500 villages in Uttar Pradesh, India to learn how to start their own businesses. These are just a few examples I have heard about recently of the many, many Swedish companies that are taking the lead on this issue. It is a rich area where both Swedish and American companies can share best practices and collaborate.

Values-based leadership with a strong foundation in social innovation will be the dominant business model of the future, in my opinion. Today, the young generation entering the workforce is demanding that their companies care about something beyond just the bottom line. Business schools are slowly moving away from a financial, investment-based “Wall Street” focus to one rooted in imagination, innovation and corporate responsibility. I have deep faith that in the next 10-20 years we will have furthered the progress of women and children around the world through innovative public-private partnerships and the dedication of both sectors to empowering women and girls.

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Values-Based Leadership

On March 26, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Photo: Andreas Wanitzky

 

Last week I was incredibly honored to deliver the keynote speech at a conference on “values-based leadership” organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Sweden in cooperation with the French Chamber of Commerce. I had the privilege of speaking with an accomplished panel of business leaders from companies like Facebook, as well as Maud Olofsson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and a pioneer in promoting women in business and politics.

 
My speech focused on the values of the Millennial generation—those born after 1980— and how those values will affect the future dynamic of the workplace and alter conventional leadership structures.

 
Understanding the identity of a generation is essential to understanding where our ever-globalizing world is going. Young people today comprise the most connected dimension of global society, and in much of the developing world the bulk of the population is under the age of 30. In the Middle East, nearly 65% of the population in some countries is under the age of 24.

 
This is an activated group looking for authentic, selfless and transparent leadership, and driven by a quest for a compelling personal narrative grounded in social responsibility and global experiences, a sense of work-life balance and a professional home with a greater purpose beyond just profit-margins.

 
Categorizing an entire generation is an enormous and potentially Sisyphean task. There are always exceptions to every generalization, and the beauty of the human condition is its diversity. But I gave my best, studied assessment and we had a vibrant conversation that touched on what qualities future leaders will have—high emotional intelligence, cultural sensitivity, a capacity to anticipate change and openness—and how to most effectively promote women to leadership positions in business.

 
My hopeful prediction is that women will take the lead in the Millennial generation. For the first time in American history women are outnumbering men in terms of college degrees and master’s degrees by close to double, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because they grew up in a post-Feminist period and were educated in the 1990s when the “self-esteem” movement hit grade schools in America— Millennial women truly believe they can be leaders in society.

 
What these young women need to continue their professional development is mentorship. This is something Ms. Olofsson emphasized, as well as several other panelists. Projecting successful role models is critical to giving young women the self-confidence to take innovative risks and go for the promotions or professional challenges they may feel are out of their grasp.

 

This is not about cutting men out of the equation, but leveling the playing field so there is a relatively equal balance of men and women in leadership positions. A healthy gender balance has been proven to be the most effective formula in leading companies.

 

Promoting commercial, people-to-people ties and gender equality in the workplace was a common thread woven throughout the week. In addition to the conference, we hosted two separate roundtables on these topics. Sweden and America share many common values, and bringing people together to brainstorm and debate is one of the most productive ways to inspire and facilitate progress. It is something we look forward to doing much more of in the coming year!

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Internet freedom

On January 30, 2012, in Mark, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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That people all over the world are taking to the Internet to voice their interests and concerns is something that the U.S. and the Obama Administration see as a positive force in the world. This is why we take the issue of Internet freedom so seriously and why the President and Secretary of State Clinton have made the issue of Internet freedom a vital part of U.S. foreign policy. I urge everyone to read Secretary Clinton’s excellent speech on Internet Freedom.  It is in everyone’s interest that as many voices and opinions, ınterests and concerns, be heard as possible.  The Internet and technology are providing an ever growing forum for this positive development.

In the past two weeks, there have been a couple of events generating positive discussion.  One of those events was a talk by Bill Lynn, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense, The Future of War: Cyberdefence and Defence Restructuring, at a seminar organized by Folk och Försvar and the Swedish National Defense University.  I recommend watching the replay, because modern free societies need to talk about protecting digital infrastructure in an open, honest and realistic way.  Bill Lynn is a particular expert on how the US is tackling this relatively new challenge.

Secretary Clinton has emphasized that the importance of the universal human rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association apply online as they do offline.  Last week, Assistant Secretary Posner said at the State of the Net conference, ” No deed is more evil — or more noble — when it is committed online rather than offline… You can’t beat up and gag a peaceful protestor and you can’t jail her for a blog post criticizing a government policy, either.”   If there was any question whether America is serious about protecting people’s rights online, this statement stands as a clear testament.

Important questions are being raised by private industry, civil society and the tech community about the balance between freedom of expression and the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the digital realm.  These are some of the same challenges we have faced in the analog world before, some for centuries, and they are solvable when we have all the stake-holders sitting at the table working toward lasting partnerships.  The embassy is strengthening our partnership with Sweden as the emphasis moves from agreement to action, and focus turns to Internet Freedom for Global Development at the Stockholm Internet Forum April 18-19.  I’m excited about this event and the potential to make freedom and openness on the Internet an economic and social development priority.

All of these discussions and actions around cyberspace and the role of the Internet in our lives demonstrate one simple but important principle: the Internet itself is an exceptionally effective tool for this public debate.  So it’s perhaps fitting to see, after so much effective use of the Internet to break down barriers in repressive countries, the lively discussion and activism by individuals in the US and Europe over these very questions of online expression, piracy and security.  In the words of theorist Marshall McLuhan, who predicted the web some 30 years before it existed, “the medium is the message.”

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To a great 2012!

On January 11, 2012, in Mark, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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As the new U.S. Ambassador in Sweden, I can’t tell you how enthusiastic I am about the coming year.  I want to share with you some of the events the Embassy is organizing, but first an anecdote.

 
After I was confirmed by the Senate to be Ambassador to Sweden, I had the opportunity to ask former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for her advice on what makes a good Ambassador.  Her wise response was illuminating:

First, good ambassadors “don’t take themselves too seriously” [Good advice, and not just for Ambassadors!]

Second, she said, the way America is viewed around the world is changing and can be shaped positively by a dynamic embassy team that listens and learns and engages in a humble and inclusive way with the people and government of the country in which they are posted.

As Ambassador, I take that advice to heart, and as I plan our agenda for 2012 I am working with my embassy team to engage with the government and people of Sweden in way that helpfully interprets American priorities, policies and perspectives.  And a great agenda is beginning to materialize.
In 2012, Sweden will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg, a diplomat whose efforts to save Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust clearly demonstrate the importance of not being indifferent.  He paid with his life for that commitment.  It will be our mission at U.S. Embassy Sweden to advance the American – Swedish relationship in a way that honors that legacy.

 

At the U.S. Embassy, we have formed an internal cluster to think how best to celebrate the basic values Raoul Wallenberg stood for.  One excellent recommendation that emerged from our team – and that we will implement in 2012 at an appropriate time for planting – is to plant a horse chestnut tree in honor of Raoul Wallenberg.  That strain of tree is famous from the legacy of Anne Frank, as it was a horse chestnut in the center of Amsterdam which she mentioned in her diary.  The tree will be endowed with a Raoul Wallenberg plaque.  It will serve as a living symbol of Wallenberg’s legacy that we hope will inspire future generations of both Americans and Swedes to protect basic values as a universal imperative.

 
Sweden now holds the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council.  Since the United States is a member of that Council, we at U.S. Embassy Sweden are enthusiastically working with Sweden to advance our common goals of protecting the environment and conserving the Arctic’s biological resources while promoting economic cooperation.  At the end of January I will travel to Jokkmokk in the northern Norbotten province of Sweden to attend and speak at the Jokkmokk Winter Conference.  It will be my goal to convey at the conference my deep personal passion for protecting the environment and biodiversity, and to listen and learn from other attendees on how we can work together to address climate change and its effects in the Arctic that are threatening the future of the North.

 
In 2012, we will be working hard to tactically implement Secretary of State Clinton’s vision of Economic Statecraft.  The Secretary has been eloquent in articulating the overlay between the commercial context and the strategic context.  Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides also crystallized it when he said “We are living at a moment when economics is at the heart of what it means to lead in this world.”  I and the Embassy team will focus on a multi-pronged strategy when it comes to Economic Statecraft:  promoting public-private partnerships especially when it comes to socially responsible causes, and bringing in U.S. trade missions to promote business to business relationships.  In the coming year, our embassy will also work on a variety of initiatives designed to partner with Sweden to promote anti-bribery and anti-corruption overseas.  With the Arab spring, the timing has never been more ripe for engaging young people and women in entrepreneurship, sharing best practices and transferring American and Swedish values of openness and transparency.

 
Also on our agenda early in 2012 we are focusing on military ties as a top priority, because Sweden is a role model for what it is to be a helpful NATO partner.  The United States salutes the valuable contributions of Sweden in Afghanistan (where Sweden has over 500 troops) and in Libya, where as part of the coalition the Swedes deployed eight aircraft for reconnaissance purposes.  I am very pleased to say that in January we will welcome former Deputy Secretary of Defense Bill Lynn to Stockholm.  Our embassy is partnering with the Swedish think tank “Folk och Försvar” to host a lecture series, and Mr. Lynn will be presenting a lecture discussing cybersecurity and defense restructuring.  As Mr. Lynn wrote in a 2011 article in Foreign Affairs, “cyber technologies now exist that are capable of destroying critical networks, causing physical damage, or altering the performance of key systems. In the twenty-first century, bits and bytes are as threatening as bullets and bombs.”  It promises to be a fascinating discussion.

 
So we are just thrilled with the beginning of 2012 – and hope you are too — as they say here in Sweden “Gott Nytt År!” – Happy New Year!

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