The former chairman of the Sweden-Latvia Cooperation fund board Anders Ljunggren has deceased. He was not only the former chair of the fund but also the initiator for the three Baltic cooperation funds to be created. A true visioner with deep knowledge and understanding of the Baltic Sea region is gone.

Anders Ljunggren was born in 1951 in the Southern part of Sweden, Småland. His career path started in the field of journalism but developed into the one of a civil servant in the Government ministries. Work at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs eventually rendered him a posting as the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Sweden in Finland. Later he was posted as ambassador of Sweden to Iceland, after that followed Estonia (2013-2018).

On 25 August 2023, the Ambassador of Latvia to Sweden, Ilze Ruse, presented a Certificate of Appreciation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Anders Ljunggren, Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Sweden-Latvia Cooperation Fund, for his significant contribution to the establishment and implementation of the Sweden-Latvia Cooperation Fund.

Anders Ljunggren often spoke about how he, upon leaving for his posting in Estonia, had gone to the Library of the Swedish Parliament looking for what could be found about the connections between Sweden and the country he was about to get to know better. What struck him was how much materials there were to be found about the Swedish and Finnish relations and how little there was about the Baltic countries. The conclusion was that there is an old imbalance, a lack of information about Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania which is still noticeable in Sweden.

Anders Ljunggren took on himself to try to repair what was missing. Following a proven Swedish model of organizing bilateral people-to-people contacts, he found some kindred spirits and started a campaign to establish such funds between Sweden and the three Baltic countries. In May 2018 the three Ministers for Foreign Affairs from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were in Stockholm to participate at an event to celebrate the centenary of the countries´ independence. The then Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wahlström surprised the guests by greeting them with a gift each, consisting of 1 million euro – the starting capital for the three cooperation funds.

The idea is to financially support projects which stimulate the development of the bilateral relations between the countries, to strengthen, broaden, renew and diversify the Swedish relationships with the respective country. The capital was later supplemented by the respective country and has grown substantially over the years. Each year several project grants are allocated to different fields – within culture, education, entrepreneurship and media, as well as for travels to explore potential project ideas. Anders Ljunggren also participated actively in establishing three bilateral leadership programs, funded by Swedbank and SEB. The programs started in 2022, and since then around 150 young people from Sweden and the three Baltic countries have had the opportunity to get a better understanding of the peculiarities and subtleties of the ways of reasoning on the other side of the Baltic Sea, and to develop lasting friendships and networks. The latter is of great importance now, in the light of the uncertainties in the world, but also to each and everyone personally and professionally.

The Cooperation funds remember Anders Ljunggren with gratitude.

Anders Ljunggren in memoriam (24.04.1951 – 03.11.2024)