A Swedish business delegation recently visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for a series of high-level meetings aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and driving innovation. The visit was organized by the Swedish-Saudi Joint Business Council, led by Marcus Wallenberg and coordinated by Patrick el-Cheikh.

The delegation included Mikael Ahlström, CEO of The Park, who joined Secretary General Ann Molin in discussions with Yahya Binladin, Farah AlJoaib, Ridha Shaikh, and the Expo 2030 Riyadh team. Together, they explored an ambitious initiative: creating the world’s largest hackathon — a global Hack for Earth at Expo 2030 Riyadh. This groundbreaking event would unite innovators worldwide to develop solutions for sustainability and technology challenges.

The meetings also featured strategic conversations with Nasser Alkahtani from the Global Flagship Initiative for Food Security, focusing on identifying and funding scalable agritech innovations to help farmers adapt to a warming and changing climate.

Saudi Arabia’s transformation — urban, cultural, and economic — is opening new opportunities for collaboration. Swedish companies are already playing a vital role in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and technology, contributing expertise to the Kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030 goals.

The visit concluded with a networking dinner hosted by Mrs. Lubna Olayan, providing valuable dialogue among business leaders. Ambassador Petra Menander and Nebe Almayahi from Business Sweden also joined discussions on future partnerships. The Swedish delegation expressed enthusiasm about continuing these collaborations and welcoming Saudi partners and a health-focused delegation soon at Forskaren in Stockholm.