Foreign minister Margot Wallström says Saudi Arabia prevented her talking to the Arab League, as Swedish parties debate whether to renew military memorandum

The tension between Sweden’s feminist face and its desire to maintain lucrative weapons contracts with Saudi Arabia broke into the open on Monday, when the Swedish foreign minister accused Riyadh of blocking her speech on human rights at the Arab League.



Margot Wallström had been invited as guest of honour to the Arab ministers’ meeting in Cairo after Sweden’s Social Democrats won general elections in September and announced they would become the first European Union member state to recognise Palestine.

But Saudi Arabia had “reacted strongly” to her government’s position on democracy and human rights, Wallström told reporters in Cairo on Monday, and blocked her speech in which she was due to “celebrate women’s achievements” and focus on women’s rights and representation.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Egypt, Ahmed Kattan, at the Arab League meeting. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

“The explanation we have been given is that Sweden has highlighted the situation for democracy and human rights, and that is why they do not want me to speak,” she told the TT news agency in Cairo. “It’s a shame that a country has blocked my participation.”

Wallström has previously spoken out against the “medieval” punishment of the Saudi blogger Raef Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and a decade in prison for insulting Islam.

She has also championed a feminist foreign policy, which she says should include the strengthening of women’s rights, increasing women’s participation in decision-making, and a gender perspective on how resources are allocated.

The snub by Saudi Arabia comes at an awkward time for Sweden’s left-leaning coalition, which is divided over whether to renew a memorandum of understanding on military cooperation with the Saudi dictatorship. The memorandum, signed in 2005, comes up for renewal every five years, with the next renewal date due in May.

On Friday, more than 30 of Sweden’s business elite, including Jacob Wallenberg of Investor, Annika Falkengren of SEB bank, and Stefan Persson of the clothing multinational H&M, signed an open letter calling for the memorandum to be continued. “Sweden’s reputation as a partner in trade and cooperation is at stake,” they wrote.

It proves those who argue a military agreement with Saudi will help human rights have been completely wrong Carl Schlyter

But the Green party, the junior member of the ruling coalition, is bitterly opposed to prolonging the deal, while the Social Democrats are split. The Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, who as a trade union leader was a champion of defence jobs, is in favour of renegotiating the weapons deal, while the party’s congress has voted not to sell weapons to dictatorships.

On Friday, Wallström spoke in favour of the memorandum, saying: “We have a very extensive trade with Saudi Arabia and economic ties and opportunities we all are anxious to retain.”

Saudi Arabia is Sweden’s fourth biggest export market for arms and defence materials outside the EU, and in 2014 total exports to the kingdom were worth SKr11bn (£900m), according to Dagens Industri, a financial daily. Swedish arms exports to Saudi Arabia peaked at SKr2.9bn in 2011 after the sale of Saab’s Erieye radar system.

The detailed memorandum instructs each party to trade arms, surveillance technology and military expertise, and “establish mutual projects to assemble or manufacture military products in the other party’s country”. Since Saudi Arabia does not produce weapons in Sweden, the agreement was understood by Saudi Arabia as encouraging Swedish arms manufacturers to operate in the kingdom.

Politicians of left and right said Monday’s humiliation at the Arab League now made it very difficult for Sweden’s government to agree to prolong the memorandum. “It proves that those who argue that a military agreement with Saudi will help human rights have been completely wrong,” said Carl Schlyter for the Green party.

“It would be just as well to terminate the contract at once,” said Maria Weimer for the Liberals.

Karin Enström, former Conservative defence minister and a defender of the memorandum, noted that Sweden was no longer welcome in Israel and was “burning its relations with other countries in this region”.