Your Majesty,
Your Royal Highnesses,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Welcome to Stockholm and the Royal Palace. It is an honour to welcome you here, in the Bernadotte Library; a room that I find very well-suited for this event.

Completed in 1796, this room was originally built to house the Swedish National Library. Today, it contains the royal book collection: about 100 000 books that have belonged to my ancestors throughout the ages.

Unlike in most libraries, the books in here are not sorted by subject, nor in alphabetical order. Instead, they are arranged by owner, starting with the first Bernadotte on the Swedish throne, Karl XIV Johan.

A library such as this is more than a room full of books. It is a site of knowledge. It offers us the opportunity to learn about our past, in order to better understand our present.

Basing our decisions on solid facts has always been important. But today, in a time of information overload, I believe it is more critical than ever. It is really quite simple: The better we know, the better we can do.

Therefore, I am especially proud of Global Child Forum’s efforts
to collect and share knowledge and best practices concerning children’s rights.

The Children’s Rights and Business Atlas, developed with UNICEF, is one fine example of this important work.Today’s advisory board meeting is another example, as we will focus on what different sectors can learn from each other about improving the lives of children.

Ladies and gentlemen, highly esteemed partners. Thank you for your invaluable support to the Global Child Forum.