After five years in Sweden as Deputy Ambassador and Head of the Economic Department at the Netherlands Embassy, I am preparing to return to the Netherlands and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this summer. I leave Sweden with a heavy heart and therefore gladly grasped the opportunity to say a few words of goodbye.
I look back on Sweden as a remarkable posting. The past five years were not exactly quiet. We lived through a pandemic, Russia’s war against Ukraine, Sweden’s accession to NATO, an accelerating energy transition and a growing awareness that economic openness also requires resilience. Companies had to adapt quickly. Diplomacy, too, changed. It became less possible to separate politics from business, security from innovation, or climate from competitiveness.
In that changing landscape, closer cooperation between the Netherlands and Sweden has been both natural and necessary. Our relationship is strongly rooted in historic ties. Seeing the Netherlands Residence from my window every day was a reminder of more than 400 years of close cooperation between our countries. But our relationship has also evolved into something more: a partnership fuelled by the pressing crises around us and driven by a shared outlook on the world.
Sweden and the Netherlands are both among the strongest supporters of Ukraine in the war unleashed by Russia. We value international free trade, an open market economy, an international rules-based order, innovation, crisis preparedness, and an effective EU. As diplomats, this means we can go beyond simply sharing information. We can truly plan and strategise with our Swedish counterparts, and that has proven to be very effective.
The Embassy’s economic work focuses on areas that connect directly to Dutch strengths: sustainable mobility, infrastructure, life sciences and health, AI and quantum technology, agricultural technology, cybersecurity and defence cooperation. These are areas where Dutch companies, knowledge institutions and public partners have real expertise to offer, and where Sweden brings impressive industrial capacity and technological ambition.
The Embassy teams working on trade, innovation and investment work as one team to promote Dutch interests abroad. This has led to trade and innovation missions in both directions, market reports, seminars and webinars, often in close cooperation with the Dutch Chamber. Many of these activities have resulted in concrete leads, business opportunities, engagement and contracts. It has been an honour to work with such a dedicated team - one that deservedly won the prize for best embassy awarded by VNO-NCW and Evofenedex in 2025.
I will greatly miss working, travelling and living in Sweden. What I have appreciated most about working here is the combination of pragmatism and principle. There is ambition here, but not much noise. Trust is built carefully, and once it is there, it means something. It is something I will take with me going forward.
I leave Sweden with many good memories — not least of the Annual Dinners, my favourite antidote to the darkest days of the year! — and I am pleased to hand over to my successor, Pieterjan Rozenberg.
My sincere thanks go to the Dutch Chamber, its Board, the regional directors and all its members. It is exceptional to have such a professional Chamber abroad, run by volunteers. To the Dutch business community in Sweden and to all our Swedish partners: thank you for the trust, the conversations and the cooperation. It has been a privilege.
/Kim de Jong
I look back on Sweden as a remarkable posting. The past five years were not exactly quiet. We lived through a pandemic, Russia’s war against Ukraine, Sweden’s accession to NATO, an accelerating energy transition and a growing awareness that economic openness also requires resilience. Companies had to adapt quickly. Diplomacy, too, changed. It became less possible to separate politics from business, security from innovation, or climate from competitiveness.
In that changing landscape, closer cooperation between the Netherlands and Sweden has been both natural and necessary. Our relationship is strongly rooted in historic ties. Seeing the Netherlands Residence from my window every day was a reminder of more than 400 years of close cooperation between our countries. But our relationship has also evolved into something more: a partnership fuelled by the pressing crises around us and driven by a shared outlook on the world.
Sweden and the Netherlands are both among the strongest supporters of Ukraine in the war unleashed by Russia. We value international free trade, an open market economy, an international rules-based order, innovation, crisis preparedness, and an effective EU. As diplomats, this means we can go beyond simply sharing information. We can truly plan and strategise with our Swedish counterparts, and that has proven to be very effective.
The Embassy’s economic work focuses on areas that connect directly to Dutch strengths: sustainable mobility, infrastructure, life sciences and health, AI and quantum technology, agricultural technology, cybersecurity and defence cooperation. These are areas where Dutch companies, knowledge institutions and public partners have real expertise to offer, and where Sweden brings impressive industrial capacity and technological ambition.
The Embassy teams working on trade, innovation and investment work as one team to promote Dutch interests abroad. This has led to trade and innovation missions in both directions, market reports, seminars and webinars, often in close cooperation with the Dutch Chamber. Many of these activities have resulted in concrete leads, business opportunities, engagement and contracts. It has been an honour to work with such a dedicated team - one that deservedly won the prize for best embassy awarded by VNO-NCW and Evofenedex in 2025.
I will greatly miss working, travelling and living in Sweden. What I have appreciated most about working here is the combination of pragmatism and principle. There is ambition here, but not much noise. Trust is built carefully, and once it is there, it means something. It is something I will take with me going forward.
I leave Sweden with many good memories — not least of the Annual Dinners, my favourite antidote to the darkest days of the year! — and I am pleased to hand over to my successor, Pieterjan Rozenberg.
My sincere thanks go to the Dutch Chamber, its Board, the regional directors and all its members. It is exceptional to have such a professional Chamber abroad, run by volunteers. To the Dutch business community in Sweden and to all our Swedish partners: thank you for the trust, the conversations and the cooperation. It has been a privilege.
/Kim de Jong
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