Swedish Ambassador pays courtesy call on University President

On the afternoon of Monday, 19 August 2025, Her Excellency Anna Ferry, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of the Philippines, paid a courtesy call on Fr Roberto C "Bobby" Yap SJ, Ateneo de Manila University President.

Her Excellency Amb Ferry assumed the role in January 2025. Before this, she served as Sweden’s Ambassador to Peru, as well as Deputy Director General at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where she oversaw trade promotion, nation branding, and corporate social responsibility. Her professional background also includes postings with the Swedish Ministry of Finance, the Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank), and the World Bank in Washington, DC.

Accompanying Her Excellency was Ms Athena Aexandria Cartagena, Communication Officer at the Embassy of Sweden. Ms Cartagena graduated from Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a Minor Degree in Literature (Filipino) in 2015.

Meanwhile, accompanying Fr Yap were Ma Cristina Alikpala, Assistant Vice President for Internationalization; Dr Raphael A Guerrero, Dean of the School of Science and Engineering; Dr Czarina Saloma-Akpedonu, Dean of the Dr Rosita G Leong School of Social Sciences; and Dr Roberto C Tanchanco, Associate Dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health.

During the courtesy call, Her Excellency discussed the possibilities of further academic collaboration with Ateneo, including opportunities for Ateneo students to study in Sweden. These would build on existing partnerships Ateneo already has with Swedish higher education institutions.

These include partnerships with KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Mid Sweden University – the latter being part of SECRA (Strengthening University-Enterprise Collaboration for Resilient Communities in Asia), a three-year collaborative project funded by Erasmus+.

In addition, AVP Alikpala also brought up Ateneo's "Sapientia et Eloquentia: The Ambassador Lecture Series" – where ambassadors from different countries are invited to deliver lectures at the University on various topics on their countries – opening the possibility of Amb Ferry delivering one such lecture.

Following this, Fr Yap and Her Excellency Amb Ferry presented each other with tokens, before posing for photos with everyone in attendance.