By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK The Swedish embassy is expected to close its doors in the near future as part of the completion of that country’s bilateral obligations to Namibia, it was formally announced yesterday by their ChargÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚© d’Affaires, Lena Johansson Blomstrand, in reaction to a question on the issue of Sweden becoming the second European country to shut its doors in the past two years. The Royal Netherlands embassy closed its doors in 2005 and its affairs in Namibia were taken over by the Finnish Embassy. “No specific date for closure has yet been set for the decision which was taken by the Swedish government in November last year,” said Blomstrand at a formal hand-over ceremony of N$30 million to the Ministry of Education in support of ETSIP. “What I can tell you is that the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in Namibia, a separate Swedish government entity, will suspend its Namibia NGO activities in 2008. However, this final payment of N$30 million crowns a Swedish engagement over the years in support of the Namibian education sector,” the ChargÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚© d’Affaires said. According to Blomstrand, the Swedish people had come to realize that it was only by shaping and building a knowledgeable society through education that development could happen and benefit the poor and the marginalized in Namibia. “The N$30 million is a sign of appreciation for the work that has materialized in the important education plan as laid out in the ETSIP document, which has earned the admiration of Swedish education experts. “When it comes to the period from now onwards, we have reached a point where Sweden is phasing out its bilateral grant support to Namibia, as was discussed between our two governments already in 1990. Thus, Sweden will not be in a position to provide any further bilateral support to the Namibian education sector,” she said. Her country’s future support will be part of the European Commission’s multilateral system, of which Sweden is a net contributor. “The Swedish embassy, however, plans to continue playing an active role when it comes to dialogue and possible institutional participation in the field of education in Namibia. We are currently examining possibilities of building upon partnership and exchange of experience programmes between Swedish and Namibian institutions in capacity-building whereby both countries can benefit,” she said. minister of Education, Nangolo Mbumba, praised all support efforts which SIDA has made towards Namibian education at various levels. “We have come to the last phase of the support,” said Mbumba, “which has lasted for 16 years. Swedish support is now coming to an end in its present form, and other ways are being sought to find and encourage other broader forms of relationships between our two countries.” He considers the N$30 million as the first substantial development partner-funding for the ETSIP programme. “We trust other development partners will soon follow Sweden’s example and make available the funds pledged at the Round Table Pledging Conference in April last year. In the meantime, I wish to urge all who are part of the process to speed up the work so that full implementation of ETSIP can go ahead as intended,” the minister said. The minister also appealed to all stakeholders in education and training to do their best to improve the quality of education in Namibia. “We may not have the necessary financial resources, but we definitely have the energy to work harder to improve the quality of education in the country,” Mbumba said.