His Excellency Amani Karume, the President of Zanzibar,Mama KarumeHonourable MinistersDistinguished officials of the Zanzibar GovernmentMembers of the Diplomatic CorpMembers of the Swedish Community in ZanzibarDistinguished GuestsLadies and Gentlemen
First of all I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you to this reception here in the beautiful location of the Sultan’s Palace in Stone Town. A particularly warm welcome to the President of Zanzibar His Excellency Amani Karume and his wife and family. We are particularly honoured by your presence.
My dear Danish colleague, His Excellency the Ambassador of Denmark, Carsten Nilaus Pedersen and I agreed some time ago to host a joint Danish-Swedish Reception here in Stone town and invite people we have met through our work and are important to us. As both Denmark and Sweden have very recently celebrated their National Days (Denmark 5/6 and Sweden 6/6) with receptions at the Ambassadors´respective Residences in Dar es Salaam. We thought it would be more appropriate for us to come to Zanzibar rather than you having to go to Dar es Salaam knowing that many of you would not be able to do so. And as many of you know, I together with many colleagues take any opportunity and make any excuse to visit Zanzibar. Denmark and Sweden are close neighbours in Scandinavia. Both counties are members of the EU and we work closely together within the Nordic Council. A bridge across the Öresund was recently built between Copenhagen and Malmö- linking Sweden to the continent or the continent to Sweden. There is every reason for us to join hands in organizing a reception like this in our joint interest.
This year we commemorate one of the greatest international leaders of the 20th century, Dag Hammarskjod, the second Secretary General of the United Nations 1953-1961. Dag Hammarskjöld was born 100 years ago. The small exhibition you see here is part of the tribute to his legacy. The exhibition’s title Peace in Mind marks how Dag Hammarskjöld’s private sphere influenced his devotion to peace that he pursued in office.
He died in 1961 while negotiating peace in the Congo. The plane carrying him to another round of peace talks crashed close to Ndola in Zambia. His legacy is as essential to day as half of century ago. Hammarskjöld made at least two important contributions to the UN: peacekeeping operations and preventive diplomacy. Two pillars that is at the core of Swedish foreign policy, and of course of the daily work of the UN.
We are very pleased that the President of Zanzibar made a visit to three Nordic Capitals including Stockholm a few months ago. A visit to the Stone Town of another historical Island of Gotland was included in the visit which manifested the touring city cooperation between Stone town and Visby. We hope that this cooperation will grow and benefit both towns in a good way.
We are also pleased that members of the Joint Presidential Steering Committee to the Muafaka have been able to visit Sweden recently.
As one of few partner countries of Tanzania, Sweden cooperates directly with Zanzibar in various fields in addition to the general support to the Union of Tanzania. We do so in the field of energy Sector, Education, Stone Town Development, ZIFF, Research Cooperation, Muafaka, Hotels, Wood working (ScanZan). There are several Swedish persons active in the tourism sector and wood processing.
I take this opportunity to thank the Swedish Community in Zanzibar for furthering relations between Sweden and Zanzibar and particularly for their efforts in the development of Zanzibar.
Again thanks for coming and I hope you will enjoy this evening.
To Conclude I propose a toast for continued close cooperation between Zanzibar and Sweden.