Meet the Ambassador | Ms. Ilze Rūse
Welcome to our first event in 2022 and
Meet H.E. Ms. Ilze Ruse, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the Kingdom of Sweden reflecting on
“Latvia - Sweden relations - new centennial accomplishments in politics and business”
DATE & TIME : 14 January 2022, 13:00-14:00
ONLINE event
Moderator: Linda Freimane, SCCL Chairperson
The event's keynote speaker:
Ilze Rūse was accredited as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia to the Kingdom of Sweden on 29 September 2021. She has worked in various positions at the diplomatic service of Latvia for 25 years. Her first diplomatic appointment was in Sweden in 1996-2003. Thereafter she was posted to Latvian Embassy in Austria accredited also to Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary, worked as the Director of European department during the Latvia’s EU presidency. Between 2015-2019 she was posted as Latvia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Before arriving in Stockholm Mrs.Ilze Rūse worked as the Director of International Organizations and Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia. She holds a Master Degree in International Relations from Stockholm University (1999) and the PhD in European Politics from Salzburg University (2011).
Highlights from the meeting:
On Friday, January 14 Members of the SCC and guests had the great opportunity of meeting with
H.E. Ms. Ilze Rūse, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the Kingdom of Sweden.
During her first 100 days in Stockholm, Ms. Rūse has been focusing mostly on making new connections, familiarize with ongoing projects and plans as well as on setting the agenda for this upcoming year. This is not the first time Ms. Rūse lives in Sweden. In her introduction the Ambassador shared her life story, which includes university studies and first steps in diplomacy in Sweden in the 1990-ies. During this period she also learned Swedish, which she speaks fluently.
Ms. Rūse explained that she is building her work around three major focus areas, which are: the political dialogue, the economical dimension and “people-to-people” aspects.
The Ambassador pointed out how much has changed since she last worked at the Latvian embassy in Sweden. Nowadays no Latvian diplomats or political representatives need to explain the geopolitical aspects of the Baltic sea region, nor urge their Swedish counterparts to include Latvia in their foreign political strategies. The countries around the Baltic sea are working together on all international levels, from bilateral projects and exchanges to the regional, EU, Council of Europe and UN level.
The foundation of this very close and successful cooperation is a shared basic life style, appreciation of a “green” lifestyle, nature, fresh air and space. However, Swedish businesses and consumers are more aware of the sustainability dimension of each part of the supply chain, and sees this as a very important aspect when making their choices. Ms. Rūse stressed that this is an argument which Latvian businesses should emphasize more in their contacts with Swedish partners and buyers.
She also mentioned several areas where Swedish and Latvian interests meet in a common understanding, such as principals of liberal trade, fiscal discipline, development of digital markets and multilateralism.
The Ambassador mentioned several governmental instruments which are available for Latvian businesses and organizations who are interested in investments and bilateral cooperation with Sweden.
One and a half hour passed quickly. No doubt the participants left with a sense of having a highly competent, experienced and also enthusiastic ambassador in Sweden, who is working hard in order to develop and further improve all aspects of Swedish - Latvian bilateral cooperation.
