In first since 2001, FM Cohen meets Swedish counterpart in Stockholm, hails improved ties

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, left, meets his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billström  in Stockholm, May 15, 2023. (MAG/ Israel Embassy in Sweden)
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, left, meets his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billström in Stockholm, May 15, 2023. (MAG/ Israel Embassy in Sweden)

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen meets in Stockholm with his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billström, the first such visit by Israel’s top diplomat in 22 years.

According to the Israeli readout, the meeting focused on the noticeable positive change in Sweden’s approach toward Israel.

“We are opening a new page in relations between Sweden and Israel after years in which Sweden had a critical posture toward Israel,” says Cohen. “The visit in Stockholm, the first for an Israeli foreign minister since 2001, signals a change in the direction of ties between the countries.”

A number of Swedish political parties have called for moving the country’s embassy to Jerusalem, and its parliament unanimously passed a measure urging the government to brand the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.

Sweden holds the EU presidency and is actively working to join NATO. Israel sees an opportunity for its defense technology to play a key role in Sweden’s military build-up in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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