At her chic office in a West Bay skyscraper that looks more like a cool, new start-up studio than anything to do with diplomacy or bureaucracy, Ewa Polano is clearly inundated with work. But somehow she doesn’t let it show one bit.
“I love my work. Sometimes, I work here until night,” the ambassador of Sweden says, looking out of the large glass panes of the embassy, into the Corniche, the towers, and the sea, “I really enjoy it here in Qatar. It might sound strange but I enjoy the weather here, too. Last October, the weather became lovely and all the way until a couple of weeks back, it had been great. That reminds me of the pleasant Swedish summer. Now it’s becoming hotter by the day. But I find it surprising that the weather, unlike what most people claim, has been good for so long.”
To talk a lot more than weather, Community caught up with Polano for a long chat.
 
Tell us about where you grew up.
I was born and raised in the South of Stockholm at a time when Sweden was becoming a rich and strong welfare state in the ’60s. Sweden hasn’t been involved in any war since 1814 — we were neutral during both World Wars. When nearly the whole of Europe was in ruins after WWII, Sweden was intact. We could therefore further advance as a country in the ’50s. I was born in 1958 and these were very promising times when everything looked up for Sweden. After studying Political Science and International Relations in University, I took up diplomatic courses and eventually became a diplomat, which was my dream.
 
What does becoming a diplomat bring with it?
Among other things, being a diplomat gives you a ticket to meet interesting and important people. Right from the start, I had decided that ‘Passion and Compassion’ shall be my motto — Passion for my work, and Compassion, as a Swedish diplomat, in our foreign policy and our care for asylum seekers like Syrians or developing crucial programmes with poor countries.
 
Can you briefly take us through your diplomatic career that spans more than 30 years?
My first posting was at the Swedish embassy in The Hague, which is also where I met my husband Paul, who is from The Netherlands. Then, I served at the Swedish embassies in Argentina and Syria; postings during which each of our two sons were born. My husband has been supportive all these years. He has studied law but when we met, he gave up his career. He moved with me to Sweden, and since then, he has been the house husband; cooking, taking care of children, frequenting their school, football classes, music classes, you name it. I am very grateful for my life spent in Foreign Service of Sweden because it has given us so much. When you have a good, strong marriage, and the children are happy, it all works well. You become extra-close as a little unit and these experiences consolidate your family. Following my return to Sweden for a desk officer posting, I served at Bonn and Berlin. In 2001, I was posted as an ambassador, for the first time, in Mexico. It was a very interesting period in their history as the nation had a lot of hope and optimism in the democracy ushered in by President Vicente Fox. Following this, I was posted in Sweden again, this time as a senior advisor to Minister of Foreign Trade, and later to handle the embassy in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. In September 2014, I came to Qatar as ambassador, months after we established our embassy here in Doha.
 
How was it to move to Doha, and how well have you adjusted to life here?
I was overwhelmed in a positive way. Qatar is surprisingly nice and fascinating, and very dynamic. I am very happy that we live by the beach in a house next to the lagoon in Legtaifiya. My husband and I swim every weekend along the shore. It’s refreshing. After a hectic week at work and attending events, I often turn down invitation on Fridays and Saturdays. I try to relax and recover because my weeks are mostly busy. I take care of myself by doing exercise and yoga, and taking long walks.
 
Sweden is known for its innovation, entrepreneurship and expertise in various fields. Do you ensure people who you meet know about your country’s strong points?
Yes. That’s part of my key focus and message to everyone in Qatar — be it officials from the government, university, or private sector. In my daily work, I focus and give priority to Qatar’s ongoing and now deepening focus on its paradigm shift, away from oil and gas alone, and into a knowledge-based society and a diversified economy. Sweden is a perfect partner to Qatar in this paradigm shift, considering our success story, with high Research & Development spending, a very innovative private sector, our highly ranked universities, and our recognised triple helix approach. A good example of this is how Swedish technology on renewable energy was recently installed in Qatar. For me, it has been an intense year-and-a-half, but I feel that I have succeeded in making people more aware of what Sweden is and what it can offer. Top Swedish brands such as IKEA and H&M, for instance, are so quintessentially, Swedish in how they give people what they need in a wonderful and modern, yet affordable way.
 
Tell us about the Swedish community in Qatar.
There are nearly 500 Swedes in Qatar. I am proud of them and especially to see that we have a great combination of Swedish families working in Doha for Qatar Airways, Ooredoo, Al Jazeera, and Swedish companies like Ericsson. I’m also pleased about the newer lot of Swedes, who are well-educated, have a family background from this region, and speak excellent Swedish and Arabic plus English — you can find them employed in Al Jazeera, Qatar Foundation, Qatar University, and in the many hotels.
 
What do you miss the most about Sweden?
Nature and walks. The calm of walking in the countryside on small unpaved roads amidst nature is amazing, as is picking mushrooms and berries in the Swedish forests, swimming in the serene lakes, and eating fresh Swedish chocolate, cakes, cookies and cinnamon buns.
 
What sort of interests and hobbies keep you occupied in your leisure time?
I love singing. Almost all my life, I have been singing in a choir. I also play the violin — classic and folklore — but I rarely practice nowadays. I love listening to classical music as much as Swedish pop and dance music. Music is big in Sweden. That explains our creating of world music superstars such as ABBA, Roxette, Robyn, and of late, Swedish House Mafia, and Avicii. Back in the ’70s, I was part of a little band. We did a revival concert in our home city recently. It was a lot of fun.
 
How about reading books or watching films?
I read too much for my work, so as to catch up with constant news and social media developments. However, as soon as I leave for vacation, I pull out a pile of books that I have never had time to read while working and I enjoy reading outdoors. This is true relaxation time for me. My Favourite authors are Agneta Pleijel, Henry James and Stefan Zweig. As for films, we have great film directors in Sweden, from Ingmar Bergman to Lasse Hallström. But I also never miss a movie by Richard Curtis — Love Actually is a family favourite that we have seen at least 10 times together. I also love films of Pedro Almodovar and Alejandro González Iñárritu.
 
How interested are Qataris in visiting Sweden for tourism?
Something interesting has happened lately in Qatar. I come across so many Qataris seeking a visa to Sweden. Many of them are now discovering Sweden for making investments. After Silicon Valley, Stockholm is the number two place in the world for start-ups, and after London, Stockholm is the number two place in financial technology in Europe. Many Qataris are visiting Sweden, especially now, in the summer, for tourism. Qataris are finding out, among the other top capitals in Europe, what a lovely city Stockholm is and the multitude of shopping opportunities that it provides, among other things. They are also exploring nature in Sweden and other historic Swedish cities. It’s a heartening trend.


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