About the Delegation

Like all member countries, the Swedish government maintains a permanent delegation to the OECD and to UNESCO. The delegation is composed of three officials from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, one from the Ministry of  Finance and one from the Ministry of Education and Research. The rest of the staff is locally employed. All members of the staff are Swedish citizens.
> Who is who at the Delegation?

OECD

The ambassador represents Sweden in the OECD Council, which is the highest decision-making body.

Every year, about 1200 delegates from Government Offices and other government authorities attend  meetings within the approximately 200 committees and working groups of the OECD. The delegation’s mission is to supervise the work done within the committees and working groups, to report back on the development and assist the Swedish Government in preparing Swedish positions.

The delegations responsibilities also include the three independent organisations within the OECD - IEA (International Energy Agency), NEA (Nuclear Energy Agency) and International Transport Forum (former ECMT, the European Conference of Ministers of Transport).

IEA was established in 1974 after the oil crisis in 1973 and is an important body when it comes to cooperation on energy policy and exchange of information on the development on world energy markets. Twenty-seven of OECD’s 32 member countries are members of IEA. Once a year, the organisation publishes its World Energy Outlook.
> IEA

NEA was founded in 1958 and is an important forum for information and change of views on various questions related to nuclear power, including reactor safety, radiation protection and waste disposal.
> NEA

The International Transport Forum is a global platform and meeting place at the highest level for transport, logistics and mobility.
> The International Transport Forum

UNESCO

The General Conference is the highest decision-making organ of the UNESCO and it meets every two years. The Executive Board of UNESCO meets twice a year.

Swedish positions and Swedish participation in the General Conference are being prepared by the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO. The Delegation is also actively involved in this work.

At the moment the Nordic countries are represented by Denmark in the Executive Board. Through a well developed co-operation among the Nordic countries and within EU, Swedish positions on the implementation of the programme, the results, the outcome of the budget and the planning of the future programmes can be presented at the Board's meetings.

The Delegation also follows the work in different committees and working groups and participates in the information meetings that are being arranged by the different programme sectors. Sweden has moreover been the driving force within a working group to facilitate and develop UNESCO's working methods. Through a Nordic initiative a review of UNESCO's science programme will be carried out.

The Delegation co-operates very closely with the Government Offices and other authorities in Sweden, primarily the National Commission for UNESCO and SIDA (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency).

The Delegation also organizes visits at the UNESCO and informs about the organization.

> Read about Sweden and the OECD on the website of the OECD
> Read about Sweden and UNESCO on the website of UNESCO