On Wednesday, Ulf Kristersson (M) held his party leadership speech in Almedalen, where he touched on migration and Sweden's EU presidency, which is beginning to suffer towards its end, among other things. FUF also asked questions to Aid and Foreign Trade Minister Johan Forssell (M) and Sida's Director General Carin Jämtin about the connection between trade and aid.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) was the first among the party leaders to take the Almedal stage during Wednesday morning. In his speech, he touched on migration, among other things, both on a national level - as Sweden is approaching the EU's minimum level regarding the reception of refugees - and on a European level, because during its EU presidency, Sweden has pushed for an agreement on a new strict European migration policy. Read the full summary of what Ulf Kristersson said about global issues here.
Later on Wednesday took Märta Stenevi (MP) stage in Almedalen. Global issues generally received little space in her speech, but she touched on, among other things, the oppression of authoritarian leaders around the world and criticized the government's aid policy. Read the full summary of what Märta Stenevi said about global issues here.
FUF has also interviewed Johan Forssell (M), minister for development aid and foreign trade, who answered questions about the government's reform of aid, how the integration of trade and aid should look in practice and why the government has chosen to reduce funding for development research:
- We are pushing for a responsible closure, he says. See the full interview here.
Carin Jämtin, director general at Sida, has also answered questions about the rapprochement between trade and aid.
- It is important for us to stick to DAC rules, and they say that you must not tie financial interests in Sweden or any other rich country to aid efforts, she says. See the full interview here.