How Swedish Ambassador found herself at the same lunch table with Kagame

Speaking to IGIHE, Ohlson said that when she presented her credentials at the President’s Office, she was informed by Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo that she would be pleased to be sitting with her at lunch. She didn’t understand it.

To her surprise, Ohlson was seated by the president’s table whom he had never met before.

“It was very nice but I was a bit nervous because it was the first time I met him. It was when I handed over my letters of credentials.” She told IGIHE

For Ohlson, 41, new ambassador seated at the small lunch table with the President and the first Lady that was quite a new experience for her, she said.

“That was a very interesting lunch. I hadn’t prepared for any special topics to talk about since I didn’t know beforehand,” She said.

However, Ohlson said that later, the luncheon was a good opportunity to discuss with the President about pertinent subjects.

She says that it was a very interesting conversation about current political affairs and differences as well as similarities between Sweden and Rwanda.

{{Something memorable and not secret
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Ohlson says that when the waiters came to ask them to stand up and go to the dessert table, the president said he did not want any dessert. For a second she must have looked very disappointed, because she had seen all the nice Rwandan fruits and had waited to try some. But she was definitely not going to take off for the dessert table alone.

“I was not sure about the protocol! I saw that he noted the disappointed look in my face, and he smiled and immediately said, ‘No, of course we will have dessert, let’s go’. To me, that was a little friendly gesture to a nervous young ambassador,” She says.

{{I didn’t feel physically intimidated
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Ohlson says being at lunch with five people around the table was a big day. She had never gone to the ceremony of the credentials before.

“I didn’t think of any intimidation or anything like that. It was just a very nice lunch. I was happy and relieved I had managed to do the protocol around the ceremony,” she says.