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Swedish Ambassador visits FSM

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): February 18, 2009 - On February 17, 2009, His Excellency Stefan Noreén, the Ambassador of Sweden to the FSM stationed in Tokyo, paid a visit to President Mori in Palikir. Ambassador Noreén came with his wife, Grazyna, and met with the President to discuss several topics that the FSM and Swedish governments share interest in. The first topic discussed was on climate change issues. Ambassador Noreén stressed the importance of climate change and said that it is an issue of "survival and of human security". He stated that when Sweden takes over the Presidency of the European Union (EU) on July 1^st, 2009, climate change will be a priority for the EU leading up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in December of 2009. The Ambassador commended President Mori for being very active at the UN General Assembly meetings in 2007 and 2008 where he made speeches on climate change issues. Because of these speeches, President Mori has been invited to go to Sweden and participate in a forum at the end of June 2009 sponsored by the Tallberg Foundation. This is the second invitation that has been extended to President Mori by this Foundation. The Ambassador stressed that FSM has an important role to play to get other, more developed countries, to make changes, and that the small steps that FSM takes are important to raise the awareness of climate change issues worldwide.

The topic of alternate energy was also discussed. Ambassador Noreén spoke of the steps that Sweden has taken to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 9% and still grow its economy. This clearly shows, in Sweden's example, that countries do not have to sacrifice economic growth when they work towards reducing carbon emissions. The Ambassador also pointed out that the European Development Fund consists of pooled resources from the EU to help in assisting developing countries to work towards using more alternative sources of energy and reduce carbon emissions.

In the meeting, there was also talk of domestic issues such as food security, employment, tourism from Europe, air transportation, upgrading the College of Micronesia, and the current EU solar panel projects going on in the outer islands. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Ambassador presented President Mori with Swedish glass.