Utrikesdepartementet | |
Arvfurstens palats, the seat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at Gustav Adolfs torg in Stockholm. | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1791[1] |
Ministers responsible | |
Website | English-language website |
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Swedish : Utrikesdepartementet, UD) is a ministry in the Government of Sweden responsible for policies related to foreign policy, democracy, human rights, international development cooperation and foreign trade.
The ministry is currently headed by the minister for foreign affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard of the Moderate Party.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was added in 1791, when Gustav III established the King's Cabinet for Foreign Correspondence. The organization that was formally named the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1840 was then created in practice.
It is possible to speak of a foreign administration to the function as soon as we can discern a Swedish central state administration, and from the end of the 13th century. Under Gustav Vasa, the chancellery developed into the body that handled and expedited government matters. With Gustav II Adolf's reforms in the 1620s, a specialization was carried out within the chancellery so that foreign affairs were distributed among secretaries according to country.
The head of the chancellery was the chancellor. In a way, he can be described as foreign minister. More famous holders of this position are Axel Oxenstierna and Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie. The title was changed during Charles XI's time to Chancellery President.
During the period of freedom, the chancellery was divided into various expeditions, including a foreign expedition. These can be seen as predecessors to the ministries. The head of each expedition was a state secretary. The Chancellery President was the head of the Chancellery. During the period of freedom, his power was further strengthened. One of the famous holders of the post was Arvid Horn.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is principal for 10 government agencies. The ministry is also responsible for Sweden's diplomatic missions around the world.
For a full list of ministers for foreign affairs, see Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden).
For a full list of ministers for international development cooperation, see Minister for International Development Cooperation (Sweden).
For a full list of ministers for foreign trade, see Minister for Foreign Trade (Sweden).
The foreign policy of Sweden was formerly based on the premise that national security is best served by staying free of alliances in peacetime in order to remain a neutral country in the event of war, with this policy lasting from 1814 in the context of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars until the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In 2002, Sweden revised its security doctrine. The security doctrine at that point still stated that "Sweden pursues a policy of non-participation in military alliances," but permitted cooperation in response to threats against peace and security. The government also seeks to maintain Sweden's high standard of living. These two objectives required heavy expenditures for social welfare, defence spending at rates considered low by Western European standards, and close attention to foreign trade opportunities and world economic cooperation. In 2024, Sweden formally became part of a military alliance for the first time since the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition by joining NATO.
The government agencies in Sweden are state-controlled organizations that act independently to carry out the policies of the Government of Sweden. The ministries are relatively small and merely policy-making organizations, allowed to monitor the agencies and preparing decision and policy papers for the government as a collective body to decide upon.
Carl Sverker Åström was a Swedish diplomat.
Leif Pagrotsky is a Swedish politician, economist, and diplomat. He served as Minister of Culture from 2004 to 2006 and Minister for Business and Industry from 2002 to 2004 under Prime Minister Göran Persson. After this, he held the position of Consul General of Sweden in New York City from 2016 to 2018.
The cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt was the cabinet of Sweden from 2006 to 2014. It was a coalition cabinet consisting of the four parties in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden: the Moderate Party, Centre Party, Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats.
Tobias Lennart Billström is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has most recently served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Ulf Kristersson and has been Member of the Riksdag since the 2002 general election, representing Malmö Municipality (2002–2022) and Stockholm County.
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The Ministry for Rural Affairs, known between 1900 and 2010 as the Ministry of Agriculture, was a ministry within the government of Sweden. The ministry was responsible for matters relating to rural areas, food and land- and water-based industries, regional development, transport and infrastructure, housing, and community planning. The ministry was headed by the minister for rural affairs (2011–2014) and the minister of agriculture (1900–2010). The ministry was disbanded on 31 December 2014, and from 1 January 2015, the matters was handled by the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation.
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The Minister for Foreign Trade,, formally cabinet minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is a member and minister of the Government of Sweden and is appointed by the Prime Minister. The minister is responsible for policies related to trade and investment promotion.
The Minister for Finance of Sweden, officially Cabinet Minister and Head of the Ministry of Finance, is a member of the Government of Sweden and is the head of the Ministry of Finance.
The Minister of the Interior was a cabinet minister within the Swedish government and appointed by the Prime Minister of Sweden. From 1947 to 1974 and from 1996 to 1998, the minister headed the Ministry of the Interior.
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(Parliamentary) Committee on Foreign Affairs (UU) is a parliamentary committee in the Swedish Riksdag. The committee prepares matters concerning the state's relationship to and agreements with other states and international organizations, assistance to other countries' development, representing the Swedish state abroad, as well as helping with diplomatic situations abroad. The committee also handles matters concerning foreign trade and international economic cooperation. They also handle matters that non of the other seventeen other parliamentary committees handle.
Eva Maria Louise Malmer Stenergard is a Swedish politician and jurist. Since September 2024, she is the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Kristersson cabinet, having previously served as Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy from 2022 to 2024. She has also been a Member of the Riksdag since 2014.
Britt Charlotte Wrangberg is a Swedish journalist and diplomat who became the incumbent ambassador to Denmark since 2020, Greece from 2013 to 2017, and Argentina from 2010 to 2013.