Young Culture Ambassadors EU/FA Day

On Tuesday April 24 Veronika Wand-Danielsson, Head of Mission to NATO, Sweden, and Jan Heningsson, Senior Advisor Foreign Affairs, visited the Spiritus Mundi youth programme Young Culture Ambassadors to talk about their work and their experiences of intercultural dialogue. – The language, which is the key to the treasures of culture, and time, because it takes time to build realtions, are the most important things in the dialogue between two cultures, Jan Henningsson tells the Young Culture Ambassadors that have gathered at Spiritus Mundi on this EU/Foreign Affairs Day. The importance of the personal encounter Jan Henningsson, who is Senior Advisor Foreign Affairs, the MENA department (Middle East & North Africa) was previously Managing Director for the Swedish Institute in Alexandria, Egypt, and has vast experience from working with culture dialogue. He is an avid advocator of the personal meeting. It is only in the meeting face to face that prejudice is tore up and stereotypes change into people. – But it has to be a wide spectrum of people who engage in the dialogue. It cannot only be between politicians from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, he says. The Delegation An example of how this is done is presented through the film "The Delegation". After the unrest that followed the Danish publication of the Mohammed caricature, Jan Henningsson went to Egypt with three young, Swedish, Muslim youths to talk to and discuss with Egyptian youths. That the Swedish youths in this situation also were Muslims was important - they had to be able to talk from a perspective of experience both as Swedish citizens and as Muslims. – To live with two value systems often develops the ability to be emphatic, says Jan Henningsson, something that was important in this charged situation. The good reputation of the Swedes The youths that attend the Spiritus Mundi Young Culture Ambassadors programme have great possibilities to develop the international culture dialogue in the part of the world that Jan Henningsson is Senior Advidor for. – The Swedish people have great reputation in the Middle East, he explains. That is a great capital for the Young Culture Ambassadors to bring with them in their continuous education. Sweden and NATO Sweden are not members of NATO  (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), but Sweden has a NATO ambassador in Veronika Wand-Danielsson. – NATO is firstly a military defense alliance är för det första en försvarsallians. Secondly NATO is an organisation for security policy dialogue and cooperation, even outside of the alliance. And thirdly it is a crisis management organisation, explains Veronika Wand-Danielsson for the Young Culture Ambassadors. Daring to accept challenges Previously Veronika Wand-Danielsson has, among other things, worked with anit-narcotics issues at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and with Balkan issues for the European Commission. Now she follows the work of NATO from Brussels and reports back to Stockholm. The Young Culture Ambassadors are immediately interested in how one can obtain employment in these different fields of work. Veronika  Wand-Danielsson tells them about her background studying political science and economic history, but also gives a piece of advice to the youths. – Don't be afraid to get into fields you know nothing about, she encourages. It is rewarding and it can be fruitful to enter as an outsider and give new perspectives on things. When she was asked to become NATO ambassador for Sweden she was skeptical at first, partly because Sweden was not a member and partly because it was within a field of expertise she had not worked in before. But she took on the challenge. Cooperation since 1994 Sweden has been cooperation with NATO since 1994 through the Partnership for Peace (PfP). PfP is a practical cooperation programme between NATO and and non-NATO countries in Europe, Central Asia and southern Caucasus. PfP is an important instrument for the participating countries to coordinate, prepare and train their forces for peacekeeping work efforts. The cooperation with NATO also includes the Euro-Atlantic Parnership Council (EAPC), which is a forum for information exchange and security policy dialogue between NATO and the partnership countries. Veronika Wand-Danielsson is a civil servant, not a politician, and should not act to affect the Swedish NATO membership issue. When asked about what Sweden is missing out on by not being a member she replies: – Dialogue and multilateral cooperation is important. Sweden misses the opportunity of dialogue, the opportunity to affect big decisions. Video clips: Interview Henningsson Interview Wand-Danielsson