After spending last week with European colleagues in the city of Kiruna - home to Europe's largest iron ore mine and the Esrange space centre - Italy's ambassador to Sweden, Michele Pala, also paid a bilateral visit to the adjacent Västerbotten region.
In the capital Umeå, he met the region's governor Helena Hellmark Knutsson and the city's deputy mayor Janet Agren, and held meetings at the University and the Chamber of Commerce. The leitmotif of all the activities was the strengthening of relations with Italy through the exploitation of the great unexplored opportunities that northern Sweden offers both in the economic-commercial and scientific-technological sectors in light of the wealth of forest and mineral resources and the potential for renewable energies that make it a priority development area for the green transition.
On the occasion of his visit to Umeå, the ambassador also met the Italian companies already present in the area and the small but very active community of compatriots (most of whom are distinguished in the university and research world), together with whose representatives he inaugurated the 'Settimana italiana', an annual appointment based on a cycle of cultural and popular events that are very popular in the city.
On the occasion of the visit, the travelling passport service was also offered for the first time to residents who needed it, in order to save them a long trip to Stockholm for the issuing of their travel documents.
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