US Ambassador to Sweden visits Scania

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Press Release / July 17, 2014

Mark Brzezinski, the US Ambassador to Sweden, visited Scania on July 17 as part of a program to promote the importance of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) between the European Union and United States.

Mark Brzezinski is the son of noted American statesman and United States Presidential National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

In order to better understand Sweden’s export industry, Ambassador Brzezinski and a nine-person entourage are on a bicycle tour of central Sweden that is taking them from Gothenburg in the west to Stockholm in the east. Along the route they are visiting large and small companies for which export plays a vital role.

On Thursday, the group arrived at Scania to discuss topics important to the automotive sector – emissions and road safety legislation issues and ways to harmonize these.

Common emission legislation, for example, would make trade easier for companies on both sides of the Atlantic. This in turn requires common test cycles, something that was part of the discussions with Scania Executive Vice President Jan Ytterberg and Senior Vice President Erik Ljungberg.

The group was also given an opportunity to test drive heavy vehicles at the Scania DemoCentre.

“I have never had the opportunity to drive a truck before,” Ambassador Brzezinski said after the test drive. “They are very easy to drive, and it helps me to understand the precision with which drivers are capable of maneuvering their vehicles.”

On the T-TIP, Scania’s Ljungberg commented: “For Scania, generally free trade decreases the need for extensive and expensive changes to our products and services.

T-TIP specifically would facilitate our joint venture with the Cummins industrial group and our exports of, for example, engines to the US market.”

Free trade is key to Scania’s future success and competitiveness, he continued.

Currently Scania’s presence on the US Market is limited to industrial and marine engines and components for these.

Should the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership be realized, it would become the world’s largest free trade agreement, and many believe it would act as an injection into the world economy. It could also help to develop industrial standards with global precedence.

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