Armenia is definitely a European country. Armenia has a lot of human capital, a lot of potential where we can work closely with Europe and, of course, with Sweden as well.  In an interview with Armenian News – NEWS.am, Charge d’affaires of Sweden in Armenia Marten Ehnberg wished speedy signing of new agreement with the European Union, underscored the importance of our country for Europe and told about the Swedish New Year traditions. 

On 7 December 2015 Armenia and the European Union launched negotiations in Brussels on a new framework agreement for the deepening of bilateral relations. What are your expectations from these negotiations? Do you believe that the two sides can turn the page on uncertainties created back in 2013?  

Well, this is exactly what we want, of course. We want to have a formalized framework for cooperation. And this is what I expect from these negotiations. The “road map” for our future cooperation is going to be very positive for both Armenia and the European Union.

In your opinion, how fast will the new agreement be negotiated?

We don’t know, of course. It’s impossible to say. But since we have done most of the negotiations before - as you are aware, we did the negotiations on the Association Agreement and those negotiations were completed - I hope we can use most of the text that we have. But, of course, we have to change certain parts in accordance with Armenia’s new international commitments.

Why is Armenia important and interesting for Europe?

Armenia has a very particular geographic location. It is between a lot of interesting countries that are of interest for Europe. But Armenia also has a lot of interesting things in itself. Armenia is definitely a European country. Armenia has a lot of human capital, a lot of potential where we can work closely with Europe and, of course, with Sweden as well.  We already have a lot of positive cooperation with Armenia. For instance, we have approximately 12,000 people of Armenian descent living in Sweden.  They provide a very valuable input to Swedish society. We also have very good political relations between Sweden and Armenia, a lot of visits on high level. So Armenia is important for many reasons, but it has a huge potential which we still haven’t quite tapped into, and the Framework Agreement is going to help to do this.

What are the Swedish traditions of celebrating New Year?

For us the main celebration is Christmas. In Sweden we celebrate it on December 24. It’s a very family-oriented holiday where we make the traditional Swedish Christmas lunch or Christmas dinner, Smörgåsbord as it’s called, where we make a marinated herring and special Christmas ham. We have special fish dishes, cold meat dishes, little meatballs - which are very traditional in Sweden - and little sausages. Another traditional dish is something called   “Jansson’s Temptation,” which is cut potatoes that you bake in oven with cream and anchovies.

We have a Christmas tree, of course. We put presents under the tree and the Santa Clause comes to give the presents to the children. After that we dance around the tree to traditional Christmas carols.

What would you wish to the Armenian people?

I would wish them all the very best in the world, prosperity, peace in the surroundings and the neighborhood. And I wish that next year Armenia signs the new agreement with the European Union.