The Ambassador of Sweden to Ivory Coast (known formally as the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire) is the official representative of the government of Sweden to the president of Ivory Coast and government of Ivory Coast. The ambassador is based in Stockholm and travels regularly to the Ivory Coast.
History.
On the occasion of Ivory Coast's independence on 7 August 1960, Sweden's acting foreign minister, Ragnar Edenman, sent a congratulatory telegram to the new nation's president and head of government, Félix Houphouët-Boigny. The telegram stated that the Swedish government recognized Ivory Coast as a sovereign and independent state, and expressed hopes for friendly and cordial relations between the two countries. At the same time, King Gustaf Adolf also sent his congratulations by telegram.
A Swedish delegation returned from a study and inspection trip in West Africa in May 1960 and submitted their report to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in January 1961, recommending that a Swedish diplomatic mission be opened in Monrovia, Liberia, with the head of the mission temporarily accredited to neighboring countries, including Ivory Coast. The embassy in Monrovia was later opened in the same year, and the head of the mission was accredited in Abidjan.
In December 1962, the so-called Ministry for Foreign Affairs (UD) investigation proposed that a new diplomatic mission be opened in West Africa, either in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, or Accra, Ghana. In a proposal to Parliament in March 1963, it was suggested that an embassy be opened in Abidjan, with its jurisdiction also covering the republics of Mali, Niger, Togo, and Upper Volta. In September, Karl Henrik Andersson was appointed as Sweden's first resident ambassador in Abidjan, where the new Swedish embassy was established later that year. The ambassador was also accredited to the Dahomey, Mali, Niger, and the Upper Volta.
In 1967, the embassy was closed after it was determined that a permanent diplomatic mission was not as necessary as in other African countries. The Swedish ambassador in Monrovia was once again accredited to Abidjan.
In 1978, Sweden reestablished an embassy in Abidjan. On 15 November 2004, in the aftermath of the French–Ivorian clashes during the Ivorian Civil War, the Swedish embassy in Abidjan was closed temporarily, and the ambassador returned to Stockholm. Since 2007, Sweden has had a Stockholm-based ambassador to Ivory Coast.