Swedish Ambassador to the United States Mr. Björn Lyrvall spoke to students at the University of Washington, Department of Scandinavian Studies, on Sweden in a Changing Europe on 5 April 2016. The Ambassador also met with students of Swedish, Scandinavian Studies Department faculty, and Dean of Arts and Sciences Robert Stacey and Dean of Humanities Michael Shapiro. Sweden is an important economic partner of Washington State. Swedish business activity in the state supports a total of 3,904 jobs, and 494 Washington jobs are supported by exports to Sweden. Commodity exports to Sweden from Washington state totaled 97 million dollars in 2015. In his remarks to students, Mr. Lyrvall discussed transformative challenges to Sweden, the Nordic countiries, and Europe. These include the conflict in Syria, the migration crisis, the possible exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, and security cooperation within Europe around terrorism. Ambassador Lyrvall emphasized the importance of cooperation among states and multilateral solutions to these issues. Students engaged the ambassador in a lively discussion during the question-and-answer period following his lecture.