Making the future – not waiting for it

Opening speech by Mr Magnus Lennartsson Nakamitsu Minister, Deputy Head of Mission:
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our Minister for Environment, Mr Andreas Carlgren, recently compared the growing debate on climate change to a landslide. In a landslide masses of earth, accumulated over a long period of time, are suddenly set in motion to bring about great changes in a short time. As Mr Carlgren said, there has truly been a landslide on the issue of climate change.

In Sweden however, the debate on the impact of economic growth on the environment has been with us for a long time. Politicians and industry have joined hands with the general public to bring about a sustainable society. Sweden has thus managed achieve sustainable growth – between 1990 and 2006, our GDP grew by 44% while our emissions of greenhouse gases fell by 9%. Still, much remains to be done.

With Japan being the second economy of the world, president of the G8 this year, and with Sweden taking over the EU presidency at the crucial time of the Copenhagen summit next year, cooperation between our two countries is very much in focus for the moment. This cooperation will be underlined by the visit of (our prime minister and) our Minister of Environment later this spring.

The municipalities have been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of the movement for sustainability in Sweden. In the past, the Embassy of Sweden has organised events with several municipalities, including Växjö, Västerås, Örebro and Gotland. Today, we are very happy to be able welcome from Sweden Mr Stig Valter Karlsson and Mr Gunnar Brundin of the Sustainable Sweden Association. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Sustainable Sweden Association in general, and Ms Lena Lindahl in particular, for making this possible.

I wish you all a very fruitful discussion, and look forward to seeing you again in the future, in our common strivings to achieve a sustainable world.

Thank you.