Sida is a government agency working on behalf of the Swedish parliament and government, with the mission to reduce poverty in the world. Through its work and in cooperation with others, Sida contributes to implementing Sweden’s Policy for Global Development (PGU). Another part of its mission is conducting reform cooperation with Eastern Europe, which is financed through a specific appropriation. The third part of its responsibilities is to distribute humanitarian aid to people in need of assistance. Sida carries out enhanced development cooperation with more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. In addition to bilateral work, and especially in aid for trade, a large portion of the development cooperation is carried out on a regional as well as global level. The selection of cooperation countries is based on political decisions made by the Swedish government. Sida’s mission is to allocate aid and other funding. Its operations are subject to the government’s guidelines, describing the goals for each year’s operations and the size of the development aid budget.

Business Sweden’s purpose is to help Swedish companies reach their full international potential and foreign companies to invest and expand in Sweden. It is owned by the Swedish Government and the industry. Business Sweden was founded in 2013 by a merger of the Swedish Trade Council and Invest Sweden. They can help international companies to develop in Sweden by providing strategic advice, information and hands-on support.

The MFA is responsible for the formulation of Sweden’s development policy. It manages several agencies relevant to this policy: Sida, but also for example the National Board of Trade, the Nordic Africa Institute and the Folke Bernadotte Academy. MFA has responsibility for the overall co-ordination and reporting of Sweden’s international development cooperation within the Government and to parliament.

For more information: http://www.government.se/government-policy/multilateral-cooperation/

The National Board of Trade is the Swedish governmental agency responsible for issues relating to foreign trade and trade policy, with the mission to promote open and free trade with transparent rules. Also, as an expert authority in trade policy issues, the National Board of Trade provides assistance to developing countries, through trade-related development cooperation. The National Board of Trade also hosts Open Trade Gate Sweden, a one-stop information centre assisting exporters from developing countries with information on rules and requirements in Sweden and the EU. In 2016, the National Board of Trade launched Trade Academy, an advanced trade policy course for participants from developing countries. It provides comprehensive knowledge of modern trade and trade regulation, as well as skills in analysing, formulating and implementing trade policy.

NAI is a center for research, documentation, and information on modern Africa in the Nordic region. It is jointly financed by the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), but is formally a Swedish authority, and its activities are ruled by the Swedish Parliament and Government. It is dedicated to providing timely, critical and alternative research and analysis on Africa, as well as to strengthening cooperation between African and Nordic researchers. As a hub and a meeting place in the Nordic region for a growing field of research and analysis, it strives to put knowledge of African issues within reach of scholars, policy makers, politicians, media, students and the general public, regularly providing background information and analyses based on research results and special studies that inform policy decisions on current African issues in the Nordic countries

RISE is fully owned by the Swedish state. It is a merge of the institutes Innventia, SP and Swedish ICT. Through their international collaboration programmes with academia, industry and the public sector they ensure competitiveness of the Swedish business community on an international level and contribute to a sustainable society.

Sida Partnership Forum is part of the Unit for Capacity Development and Cooperation, which in turn belongs to the Department of Global Cooperation at Sida. Sida Partnership Forum is a platform for Swedish actors in development cooperation and therefore works with representatives from the business community, government authorities, academia, and civil society. The work focuses on capacity building activities, with courses, and throughout Sweden and participates in conferences on development work in Sweden and abroad. Sida Partnership Forum is not a traditional learning provider and aims to be an innovative meeting place where new insights and ideas can grow out of the dialogue.

For more information: http://www.sida.se/English/partners/resources-for-all-partners/courses-and-training/Sida-partnership-forum/

Swedfund is Sweden’s risk capital company specializing in investments in developing countries. Business and industry can benefit from its expertise in its endeavors to create profitable businesses in new markets. It offers risk capital and competence for investment in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe (non-EU members); its vision is to contribute to the development of profitable companies and thereby stimulate sustainable economic development in the countries in which it invests.

SWEDAC is the national accreditation body in Sweden. It is a Swedish public authority, responsible to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, with the main duty of determining the competence of organizations to perform their tasks. It covers laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies concerned with the analysis, testing, calibration, certification, and inspection in various sectors.

EKN, a state authority with a directive from the Government to help improve the competitiveness of Swedish companies, functions in the same way as an insurance company, providing guarantees which serve as an insurance policy covering export transactions and investments abroad. It is mandated to provide guarantees that are competitive in relation to what other export credit agencies offer, without being so generous that they subsidies Swedish exports.

The PRV provides protection and exclusive rights for technological ideas, trademarks and industrial designs; effective and appropriate systems for their registration; and appropriate and qualitative information and services on intellectual property issues for enterprises and business.

SWEPRO is Sweden’s forum for discussion and information on international work for all issues related to the simplification of trade procedures. It includes representatives from business and the public sector, and coordinates and participates in work within UN, OECD, WTO and EU frameworks.

NIR is an independent affiliation of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises with the mission of working closely with major companies in Sweden and abroad, with potential business partners and private sector organizations and with governments and government agencies, all to carry out business promotion as well as development programmes. Its overall aim is to contribute to new business opportunities in markets with challenging and complex political and commercial conditions.

Standardization is carried out by three standardization bodies: SIS, for business areas covered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN); ITS (Informationstekniska Standardiseringen) for all telecom standardization; and SEK (Svenska Elektriska Kommissionen) for all standards for electrical, electronic and related technologies. As a non-profit organization, SIS promotes Swedish participation in international standardization.

We Effect (Formerly called Swedish Cooperative Centre) is a global development organization founded by the Swedish Cooperative movement in 1958, with three regional offices and operations in more than 20 countries worldwide. Through long-term development work and “help to self-help,” We Effect equips poor people with the tools needed to fight poverty themselves and, through its advocacy work; it strives to convince more people to take a stand for a world free from poverty and injustice. Projects are financed through fundraising and by Sida.