The Swedish Chamber is very pleased to talk to Petra Zachrisson Beets, who started as Officer of Communication, Culture and Sweden Promotion at the Swedish Embassy in the Hague in February.
About Petra:
“I am Swedish and I have been living in the Netherlands for 20 years. First in Amsterdam and now in Amstelveen, just outside of Amsterdam for about 15 years. I am married to a Dutch man and we have two daughters and a dog.
For almost 15 years, I worked at the marketing department at IKEA Netherlands after which I started my own company in PR & Communication. Since I arrived to the Netherlands, I have been active within “Svenska Klubben” and also a very active member of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. So I am very familiar with Swedes living in the Netherlands.
My new role at the Swedish Embassy gives me the opportunity to combine my study, knowledge and work experience within communication. Also, it enhances my everlasting love for sharing information about Sweden and the Netherlands in both countries. The most important thing in this role and our main priority, is to communicate information about Sweden to the Netherlands, and specifically the Swedish take on Equal rights, Sustainability and Innovation. Another main topic this year is to give attention to the ‘Drive for democracy’.
The most challenging and fun goal is to try to reach more Swedes living in the Netherlands and also to reach more Dutch people that are interested in Sweden. But it is also a challenge to get through with our messages about the Swedish values to the Dutch people; Why is a ‘feminist foreign policy’ important? Why is it important to have equal rights? How can Sweden and the Netherlands share experiences in those areas?
Our communication tools are our website and Social Media channels and we are very active on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. That is how I want to reach more people, especially now. Quick and correct information is so important in these corona-times. Of course, we look forward to when the Corona crisis is behind us and we hope to have more personal meetings again.
At this moment of course the Corona situation is taking up most of my time. I was very fresh at the Embassy when the Corona crisis started, so I have been forced to learn everything at a very high speed. As a Communication Officer my number one priority has been to continuously keep myself as updated as possible on the Swedish and Dutch governments measurements and to share all the information as soon as possible on our website and in social media. In that sense, my work has been everything but normal since the Corona virus outbreak. But I do find it very rewarding to be able to share all information as quickly as possible for the profit of our Swedish community in the Netherlands and I hope that everyone will find the information on our website useful and that it is helping them to take the right measurements to keep safe.”
