The priorities of Mr. Carl Bildt

The foreign secretary of Sweden, Mr. Carl Bildt is closing down a number of embassies due to decreased funding to the foreign ministry. Mr. Bildt prioritizes the embassy in Burkina Faso over the embassies in Ireland and Luxembourg. Before Mr. Bildt was appointed foreign secretary, he was on the board of directors of Lundin Oil AB between 2000 and 2006 , the company is part of the Lundin Group of companies. Lundin Oil has been criticized by NGOs and the UN for it's involvement in oil extraction in Sudan where government troops committed atrocities against civilians when securing areas of interest to the company.

Swedish exports to Burkina Faso amounted to 66.8 million SEK in 2008, during the first six months of 2009, Swedish exports amounted to merely 26.7 million, this is a 30% drop of exports compared with the previous period in 2008. No figures are available for 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile Sweden's export total to Ireland in 2009 was 4.5 billion. The Swedish exports to Ireland also increased by 7% during the first six months in 2010 compared with the same period in 2009. This in spite of Ireland's financial problems.

Besides a few minor development projects Sweden does not seem to have any other interests to protect in Burkina Faso. Of course a Canadian company belonging to the Lundin Group, NGEx Resources, is active in the country but surely that could not have affected Mr. Bildt's decision making?

According to the Irish National Tourism Development Authority Swedish visitors to Ireland in 2009 amounted to 59 000. I have not been able to find any visitor statistics on the number of Swedish visitors to Burkina Faso, but let's just say it is not a well known charter destination for Swedish tourists.

Is Carl Bildt's planned closure of the Swedish embassy in Ireland really in the best interest of the Swedish voters and tax payers? And has the foreign secretary cut all his ties with the Lundin Group?