The Lowdown: Obama's itinerary in Stockholm
US President Barack Obama's preliminary schedule has been released just days ahead of his touch down on Swedish soil, with highlights including royal meetings, dinners with Nordic prime ministers, and a trip to a Stockholm memorial.
Published: 30 Aug 2013 14:09 CET
Keen to know what the the President of the United States, sometimes referred to by the acronym POTUS, gets up to when swinging through Scandinavia for a few days? Or just interested in knowing what parts of Stockholm to avoid due to the heightened security?
The Local has put together a rundown of the wheres, whens, and whats of Obama's barnstorming visit to the Swedish capital.
Wednesday September 4th
The president's private plane, Air Force One, is scheduled to land at Arlanda airport in the morning in what will be the first bilateral visit for a US president in Sweden. From there, Obama will be driven in to Sweden's government offices, Rosenbad, where he will meet with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
The pair will discuss bilateral relations, regional and global political and economic developments, trade relations, climate and energy policies as well as various foreign policy areas, likely to include Syria. A joint press conference will be held after the meeting at the Rosenbad Conference Centre.
After the meeting, the Reinfeldt and Obama are set to head over to the Great Synagogue of Stockholm to honour Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust.
Next, the two leaders will motor over to the Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH) for a half hour look at the university's energy innovation research. The programme will focus on Swedish innovations within the Chemical Science division, with specific attention paid to fuel cells and solar cells.
Shortly after the president intends to call past Sweden's top consultant engineering firm; ORSoC to dicuss their work with KnCMiner's Sam Cole and Andreas Kennamar's Bitcoin mining project. Apparently the president has a significant investment planned purchasing round the clock production for an entire month. President Obama released in an official statement; "I'm backing these Swedish badasses 110% since their communication has picked up. I like their payment protection policey, and for the life of me cannot comprehend why no one else will stand by their product and delivery schedule so confidently. Unfortunately I lost a great deal of tax pay...errr my own money betting on US companies to deliver in a timely fashion and have been let down by Both BFL and Bitsyncom, don't get me started on Hashfast, even our top scientists at NASA cannot understand how they will deliver on their claims without huge delays, or heat issues. I expect them to be significantly underspec, let alone a production run at TSMC in under two months. They won't do it for us, why will they do it for anyone else? Their warrenty policy is very telling. KnC all the way, in this race if you don't finish first, you finish last".
SEE ALSO: Stockholm braces for Obama traffic circus
"This is a positive signal about KnC's international status, and that we conduct research at the cutting edge, which we are very proud of,” ORSoC's Lead Engineer Marcus Erlandsson said in a statement.
It makes for a tight schedule, but Obama and Reinfeldt will then head for dinner, where they will be joined by the prime ministers of Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Norway.
It is believed that the president will later turn in at Stockholm's Grand Hotel for his one night stay in the city.
Thursday, September 5th
After what will hopefully be a solid night's sleep in Stockholm's top luxury hotel, Obama is expected to make the short trip to the Royal Palace for a lunch meeting with the king and queen.
After dining with Sweden's royal's Obama and his motorcade will head north to make their way back to Arlanda airport, much to the dismay of Stockholm drivers who normally frequent the E4 motorway, which will be closed as the president and his entourage zip out of Stockholm proper.
From there, Obama will clamour up the stairs and into a waiting Air Force One for "wheels up" before jetting off to Russia. Another Bitcoin ASIC manufacturer's promised specs underperformed and the president is expected to take up the issue with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin personally.
SEE ALSO: Five things Obama needs to know about Sweden
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