Sweden Ends Military Cooperation Deal With Saudi Arabia
Criticism of Saudi rights record causes diplomatic standoff
By CHARLES DUXBURY
March 10, 2015 5:47 p.m. ET



STOCKHOLM—Sweden said Tuesday it was canceling a 10-year-old military cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia a day after the two countries were involved in a diplomatic spat over human rights.

The agreement, signed in 2005, covered a range of areas from the exchange of military training to the transfer of military technologies. It was extended in 2010 and would have been automatically extended again later this year had Sweden not withdrawn.

The deal has been under pressure recently after it was criticized by the Green Party, the junior party in a two-party Sweden’s governing coalition, who cited the poor state of human rights in Saudi Arabia among their concerns.

The agreement has also been the subject of intense debate in Swedish media with analysts and commentators questioning whether Sweden, which places a heavy emphasis on promoting human rights in its foreign policy, should have such close ties with a country where freedom of speech in particular has been curtailed.

Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, in January openly criticized the flogging of a Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi.The Saudis responded Monday by blocking a planned speech by Ms. Wallstrom that she was to have made before the Arab League in Cairo the same day.

The speech, later published online, highlighted the value of human rights to the individual and to society as a whole.Ms. Wallstrom said the Saudis had cited her criticism of the Arab country’s rights record in justifying their objection to her speech.A representative for the Saudi embassy in Stockholm couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Sweden’s Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said late Tuesday that the military cooperation deal was being wound up “because in practice the military cooperation is not ongoing.” He said Swedish authorities currently have no projects together with the authorities of Saudi Arabia under the agreement.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven had previously said he would like to renegotiate the terms of the two countries’ military cooperation rather than scrap it.

He said Tuesday that the decision to terminate the agreement had been made some time ago and didn’t depend on the diplomatic turbulence of recent days. Analysts have suggested it was a concession he had to make to keep his governing coalition together.

Business leaders including Jacob Wallenberg, chairman of investment company Investor, had as recently as last week called on the government to extend the agreement with Saudi Arabia among other things to protect Swedish jobs in the export sector and the Nordic country’s reputation in business circles internationally.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sweden-e...bia-1426024075

Sweden ends military ties with Saudi Arabia
Tuesday 10 March 2015 19.37



Sweden will not renew a military cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, effectively ending defence ties due to mounting concerns over rights issues.

"It will be broken off," Prime Minister Stefan Loefven said on public radio of a 2005 Saudi-Swedish agreement.

The Social-Democrat premier spoke a day after Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstroem accused Saudi Arabia of blocking her speech at an Arab League meeting.

Saudi Arabia is the third largest non-Western buyer of Swedish arms. In 2014, Riyadh bought equipment worth 338 million kroner (€37m).

The deal, which was due for renewal for another five years in May, has come under fire within Loefven's Social Democrats, while Green Party partners oppose it categorically.

Ms Wallstroem has rarely commented on Saudi Arabia but in January she slammed the kingdom's treatment of blogger Raef Badawi, who had been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0310/686084-sweden/