Lawyer, Su’a Hellene Wallwork, is the new Honorary Consul for Sweden in Samoa.

With the appointment becoming effective on Monday this week, Su’a told the Samoa Observer that she is extremely honoured to be chosen.

 “It’s an honour to be appointed,” she said.

“And to be confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Samoa that they are supportive of the appointment is very important for the role.”

A mother of two who is married to another lawyer, Travis Lamb, Su’a said her focus is to strengthen the ties between Samoa and Sweden.

 “The role of Honorary Consul is to be the representative of Sweden here in Samoa so it’s important that we have a good working relationship with the Samoa government,” she said.

“I am not the first Honorary Consul for Sweden, there have been previous honorary Consuls so it’s not a new position for Samoa.”

But there are exciting prospects in the pipeline. For the Pacific in particular, the Swedish government has recently passed the Sweden International Development Aid (S.I.D.A) policy. Su’a said this augurs well for Samoa.

The policy entails that Sweden will have a special division for Asia Pacific.

“What they want to do in the Pacific will be very relevant to Samoa.

“So hopefully through the relationship we have with the Ambassador in Sweden, Par Ahlberger, we can get more information that gets through to Samoa as how that relationship can develop even more positively.”

As for the appointment, Su’a said the selection process took a while.

 “The process took about a year so it wasn’t something that was decided overnight and they had a lot of questions that they asked and wanted to know for the process.

“In terms of work load I don’t think there’s that much work involved, being just an Honorary Consul there is no office here in Samoa.

“I’m just going to be here if any representations required for the Swedish Government and also for Swedish tourists that come through.”

She added that the Swedish are a well travelled nation of people with the population just under 10million.

“They are very innovative in terms of designs that they come up with and the technology they come up and also the cultural aspects of Sweden.”

Su’a is the second eldest daughter of Seuli Paul and Su’a Julia Wallwork.

Su’a and her husband run the Wallwork Lamb Lawyers which is a boutique law firm specialising in Tax, Commercial and Trusts law, located at the Oceanview Business Complex in Apia.