Ann Linde

This material provides an overview of main areas of the Government policy on gender equality. It describes current political goals and strategies and gives a brief historical background to important reforms. It also identifies further remaining challenges and explains how the feminist Government is addressing these and what measures are taken in order to initiate change.

Estonia, Finland and Sweden have agreed that in case of a new significant information on the catastrophe of the M/S Estonia that has not been reported before, Estonia, Finland and Sweden will jointly assess the new information. A Discovery Network documentary about the M/S Estonia disaster in 1994 includes new underwater video images from the wreck site showing damage on the starboard side of the wreck. Estonia, Finland and Sweden have agreed that verification of the new information presented in the documentary will be made in accordance and full respect of the Agreement between the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden regarding the M/S Estonia signed in 1995. The fundamental idea with this agreement is to protect the M/S Estonia, as a final place of rest for victims of the disaster, from any disturbing activities. Our countries will cooperate closely in this matter and Estonia as Flag State will lead this process. Estonia, Finland and Sweden emphasize that we rely on final conclusions of JAIC (Joint Accident Investigation Commission) Final Report of 1997.

Today, foreign ministers and their representatives from Georgia, Liberia, Mongolia, Portugal, Sweden, Tunisia and Uruguay have come together in the margins of the UN General Assembly to mark the beginning of a new partnership, the Friends in Defence of Democracy.

On 17 September, the Foreign Ministers of Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark met on the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea. The ministers’ discussions focused on international security and foreign policy issues.

On September 17, Foreign Minister Ann Linde co-hosted, together with the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Kuwait and the UK, a virtual high-level meeting on the situation in Yemen, in connection to the United Nations’ 75th General Assembly. The meeting was attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and a Group of countries particularly engaged in supporting UN efforts in Yemen. The Group comprises the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States), Sweden, Germany, Kuwait and the European Union. The meeting followed-up the Group’s high-level meeting in New York last year, which was also co-hosted by Sweden.

08.-09.09.2020 Tallinn, Estonia. Statement by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.

Some 70 participants from civil society organisations, the social partners and government agencies took part in a digital meeting on 26 August hosted by Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde and Minister for Gender Equality Åsa Lindhagen. Discussions covered the international coalition to work for financial gender equality, of which Sweden is one of the leaders, and international gender equality work in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.