Plans to further strengthen Swedish co-operation with Qatar-based academic institutions are under way, which will serve as a platform for exchanging views on regional and international affairs, Swedish ambassador Ewa Polano has said.
“We developed some interesting plans on how to deepen the Swedish co-operation with the Brookings Doha Centre on various knowledge sharing seminars in the coming year in Doha and Stockholm on subjects of mutual interest for both our countries,” the envoy told Gulf Times.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing visit to Qatar of Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) Mena Region director Bitte Hammargren, which concludes today. This was her fourth visit to the country.
UI, a highly recognised and independent think tank for research, analysis, and information on international relations and foreign policy, conducts academic and policy-focused research and is closely co-operating with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. UI’s research is based on unbiased scientific analysis and field visits to countries of interest.
Besides her visit to the Al Jazeera Research Centre, Hammargren also met with several researchers from Qatar’s academic institutions. Part of her three-day itinerary was a meeting with several public officials, including HE ambassador Dr Mutlaq al-Qahtani, Qatar’s Foreign Minister’s Special Envoy for Counter-terrorism and Conflict Resolution.
“The outcome of today’s meetings is that the UI is planning early 2018 to organise some seminars on Gulf and regional issues in Stockholm and these meetings gave good inspiration for the topics and whom to invite,” stressed Polano, who described Hammargren’s visit as “fruitful and full of good discussions.”