NordenBladet —On Tuesday 20 March, an Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs was held at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. The Council is a consultation group between the Riksdag and the Swedish Government, presided over by The King. The Council consists of the Speaker and nine other members from the Riksdag, together with nine deputies.
The Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs is convened by the Government. According to the Swedish Constitution, “The Government shall keep the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs continuously informed of those matters relating to foreign relations which may be of significance for the Realm, and shall confer with the Council concerning these matters as necessary.”
The Crown Princess attends the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs.
The Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs in Queen Lovisa Ulrika’s Dining Hall at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. Photo: Henrik Garlöv/Royalcourt.se
The Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs in the Swedish Constitution:
§11 The Government shall keep the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs continuously informed of those matters relating to foreign relations which may be of significance for the Realm, and shall confer with the Council concerning these matters as necessary. In all foreign policy matters of major significance, the Government shall confer with the Council, if possible, before making its decision.
§12 The Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs consists of the Speaker and nine other members elected by the Riksdag from among its members. More detailed rules concerning the composition of the Council are laid down in the Riksdag Act.
The Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs is convened by the Government. The Government is obliged to convene the Council if at least four members of the Council request consultations on a particular matter. Meetings of the Council are presided over by the Head of State or, in his or her absence, by the Prime Minister.
A member of the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs and any person otherwise associated with the Council shall exercise caution in communicating to others matters which have come to his or her knowledge in this capacity. The person presiding over a meeting of the Council may rule that a duty of confidentiality shall apply unconditionally.
Featured image: The King with the Speaker Urban Ahlin and the other members of the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs. (Photo: Henrik Garlöv/Kungahuset.se)
Source: Swedish Royal Court Find us also on Twitter: @NordenBladet
NordenBladet – Nowadays, especially when looking at job offers, you can often meet the expression Virtual Assistant (VA). Since this is not a very common expression in Scandinavia, you may inevitably have questions: What is it? What is a virtual assistant and what do they do? What is the job description of a virtual assistant? What does a virtual office assistant do? etc.
Virtual assistant may mean:
1) Virtual assistant (occupation), a human. A virtual assistant is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative assistance to clients remotely from a home office.
2) Virtual assistant (artificial intelligence), a “bot” such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana, etc. All these intelligent services offer customers a more intuitive way to interact with the technology they use every day.
1. What is a virtual assistant and what do they do?
Most virtual assistants are contract or freelance workers who do their jobs from home and focus on administrative tasks that are similar to those of an executive assistant or secretary. Websites that specialize in contract workers have thousands of listings for virtual assistants.
2. What is the job description of a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant (VA) can handle many of the everyday clerical, scheduling, and technical aspects that keep your business operating smoothly. Virtual assistants work remotely from their own location, hence the name “virtual,” and can be based in your city or on the other side of the world.
3. What does a virtual office assistant do?
A virtual assistant (typically abbreviated to VA, also called a virtual office assistant) is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients remotely from a home office. … Virtual Assistants usually work for other small businesses.
4. What skills do you need to become a virtual assistant?
Being a successful VA isn’t simply helping someone with their admin or supporting their business, it’s knowing how to manage and communicate with them. Here you will find a great article which will help you to understand Virtual Assistant business and Qualities every Virtual Assistant needs to have.
1. Email Management/Filtering
2. Setting up Autoresponders (Aweber, Mailchimp). Compare product features and ratings to find the right Email Marketing Software for your organization. You can read more about Autoresponder Software here and here
3. Booking appointments with clients
4. Following up with clients/customers (sending thank you and other reminder emails)
5. Receptionist duties (answering occasional calls)
6. Calendar Management
7. File Management (organizing files using Dropbox etc)
8. Database building (eg. updating email or contact lists on your CRM)
9. Research on certain topics for blog posts, newsletters or others
10. Personal errands (purchasing gifts for loved ones / family members online)
11. Hotel and Flight Search and Booking
12. Transcription (transcribing voicemail, video or audio, podcasts etc.)
13. Taking down minutes of meetings
14. Creating basic reports (reports on weekly tasks, deliverables, sales)
15. Preparing Slideshows (Powerpoint Presentations)
16. Liaison between you and other team members
17. Recruitment (source for other team members like writers or graphic artists)
18. Set-up Social Media Accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram)
19. Manage and update Social Media Accounts
20. Manage your Blog (Basic WordPress Skills)
21. Publish posts on your Blog (content you provided)
22. Filter and reply to comments on your blog
23. Answering support tickets (with the use of Zendesk)
24. Blog commenting (to increase links to your site)
25. Participating in discussion forums or message boards (more promotion!)
6. How much should I charge as a virtual assistant?
The more experienced a VA is, the more they’ll be up to the challenge—and the higher the rate they’ll be likely to charge. On Upwork, freelance virtual assistants charge an average of $18-35/hour depending on skills and experience.
If your organization is larger with a more “corporate” structure and protocols, it may benefit you to hire a VA with corporate office experience who is more comfortable navigating the ins and outs. Some freelance virtual assistants will list prior office experience, corporate positions, or executive administrative assistant roles in their profiles. This should translate to valuable knowledge that can give them the instincts and skills to handle more demanding work.
7. What is the average salary for a virtual assistant? Virtual Assistant Salary. Women account for the majority of Virtual Assistants in the United States. The entire group has an average salary of $15.57 per hour. Geographic location and tenure each impact pay for this group, with the former having the largest influence.
8. How much do virtual executive assistants make?
The national average salary for a Virtual Executive Assistant is $56,668 in United States. Filter by location to see Virtual Executive Assistant salaries in your area.
9. How much does it cost to hire a virtual assistant?
Whether you are going to hire a part time virtual assistant or a full-time virtual assistant from an agency, you will have to pay from $ 5 to $ 8 per hour. But if you choose a task-based subscription plan, you will have to pay $15 for an hour of work.
10. What is a virtual receptionist?
Virtual receptionists are contract workers and they perform many of the same tasks as traditional receptionists handle. They can take messages, handle phone calls, make follow up phone calls, manage your schedule and more.
11. What is the voice assistant? A voice assistant is a digital assistant that uses voice recognition, natural language processing and speech synthesis to provide aid to users through phones and voice recognition applications.
Voice assistants are used in help and service phone lines, smartphones and other places to assist users with tasks, including:
a) Listening to an audiobook.
b) Requesting information, similarly to inputting a search query.
c) Making reservations.
d) Adding items to a shopping list.
e) Performing mathematical calculations.
f) Playing music.
12. How can virtual assistants make your life at work easier?
Virtual assistant services can be incredibly useful to help you get more work accomplished, become organized, or just free up time so you can sit down and relax. Here are 5 Ways Virtual Assistant Services Make Your Life Easier.
People also ask: What is contract workers/ contract employee?
An employee who works under contract for an employer. A contract employee is hired for a specific job at a specific rate of pay. A contract employee does not become a regular addition to the staff and is not considered a permanent employee.
What does it mean to be a contract employee?
Type of Relationship. A worker can have a contract stating he is an employee, but that alone does not define the worker’s status. A company pays benefits such as insurance, pensions, vacations and sick days to employees, while independent contractors generally do not receive such benefits.
Are contract workers considered employees?
Generally, you must withhold income taxes, withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, and pay unemployment tax on wages paid to an employee. You do not generally have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors.
What is classified as contract labor?
Contract labor is the use of independent contractors. From a tax perspective, the difference between contract labor, or an independent contractor, and an employee is day and night.
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NordenBladet — On Monday 12 March, The Crown Princess’ name day was celebrated in the traditional manner at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.
The celebrations began with a tribute concert by the Army Music Corps, who performed the Swedish Armed Forces’ Parade March, also known as Queen Victoria’s Presentation March.
This was followed by the Victoria March, which was written in the mid-1890s by Gösta Korsgren and adopted as the Västgöta Wing’s march in 1986. Congratulation by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger and Crown Princess Victoria’s Celebratory March, composed by the Army Music Corps’ former Musical Director Mats Janhagen and first performed on The Crown Princess’ 18th birthday, were also played.
The concert concluded with With A Simple Tulip and four cheers, followed by the Victoria Fanfare and the presentation of flowers by the Music Corps, the Main Guard and the Guard of Honour to The Crown Princess.
The celebrations in the Inner Courtyard concluded with The Crown Princess meeting and greeting all those who had come to take part.
Featured image: The Crown Princess is congratulated by the public during the traditional name day celebrations. (Photo: Henrik Garlöv/royalcourt.se)
Source: Swedish Royal Court Find us also on Twitter: @NordenBladet
NordenBladet — From Wednesday 14 to Saturday 17 March, The Crown Princess visited the Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang to follow the Swedish competitors. The Crown Princess’s first day in Pyeongchang began with watching the sprint final, in which Zebastian Modin came second after Brian McKeever from Canada.
After the race, The Crown Princess had the opportunity to congratulate Zebastian on his silver medal.
Later in the day, The Crown Princess watched Sweden’s para ice hockey match against Norway, which ended with Sweden losing 3-1.
The Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, ran from 9 to 18 March 2018.
Featured image: The Crown Princess with Niclas Grön, Sports Director of the Swedish Parasports Federation, and Elias Håkansson, Content Producer at the Swedish Parasports Federation. (Photo: The Swedish Parasports Federation) Source: Swedish Royal Court Find us also on Twitter: @NordenBladet
NordenBladet – The first festive event of the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia was hoisting the flag on the Pikk Hermann tower on Tallinn’s Toompea Hill at sunrise. Every day, the Estonian flag is hoisted at sunrise, and taken down at sunset. On Independence Day this is a special event that attracts plenty of people every year. Representatives of student organizations, choirs, and other groups close to Estonian traditions attend it.
Flag hoisting to the sounds of the Estonian anthem
Estonian Male Choir Association male choirs and the Estonian Police and Border Guard Orchestra
Conductor Hanno Põldmäe
Speech by the President of the Riigikogu Eiki Nestor
“Eesti Lipp”
Music by Enn Võrk, lyrics by Martin Lipp
Estonian Male Choir Association male choirs and the Estonian Police and Border Guard Orchestra
Conductor Peeter Perens
Speech by Tallinn Secondary School of Science final year student Mathias Kübar
“Jää vabaks, Eesti meri”
Music and lyrics by Viktor Konstantin Oxford
Estonian Male Choir Association male choirs and the Estonian Police and Border Guard Orchestra
Conductor Indrek Vijard
Words of blessing by EELC Archbishop Urmas Viilma
“Hoia, Jumal, Eestit”
Music by Juhan Aavik, lyrics by Aleksander Leopold Raudkepp
Estonian Male Choir Association male choirs and the Estonian Police and Border Guard Orchestra
Conductor Ants Soots
Estonian Declaration of Independence, read by fourth year student of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, winner of Voldemar Panso Prize Priit Põldma
“Kodumaa”
March for brass band by Raimund Kull
Estonian Police and Border Guard Orchestra
Conductor Hanno Põldmäe
Approximate end of the ceremony 8.10 a.m.
The ceremony is followed by an informal celebration together with the Estonian Folk Dance and Folk Music Association. You can brush up on your dancing skills with Folk Culture Society Koidupuna, Pelgulinn Community Centre mixed folk dance group Tontar, Folk Dance Society Pääsuke, Tallinn French School dance group Leesikad, Folklore Society Leigarid, and Saku Recreation Centre group Kohevad ja Tugevad.
Fotod: Estonia 100. Flag hoisting ceremony on February 24 (Riigkogu fotoarhiiv/Erik Peinar)
NordenBladet – The series of 44 books on a wide range of different topics will eventually provide a broad overview of the first century of Estonian statehood. The first two books revisit the history of the Estonian state and were written by historian and former Prime Minister Mart Laar, and historian Toomas Hiio.
“Writing this book it felt like we’d need at least one hundred books to write down the one-hundred years of history of the Republic of Estonia. Fortunately we were able to fit this story ranging from the birth of the Estonian national movement to the creation of an independent country into two books,” Laar said.
The first book traces the events that led to the Declaration of Independence on Feb. 24, 1918, continues on with the Estonian War of Independence that followed shortly after, the growing pains of a young state, and the years that followed during which the Republic of Estonia was built as a 20th-century state.
Featured image: The first book was introduced on Feb. 19, 43 more will follow, to be published in 2018 and 2019 (Riigikantselei) Source: News.err.ee
NordenBladet – Nordic Council of Ministers is introducing subsidy programs for cooperation with the Nordic countries, by carrying out information meetings in various towns around Estonia. Yesterday, 6 February there was an information day in Võru cultural house Kannel (Liiva 13). NordenBladet reflects on the event, conveying to you a resume of what took place at the workshops, together with an exclusive gallery about the information day.
During the information day the following issues were tackled:
– what are the Nordic Council of Ministers subsidy programs for the public sector, NGOs and the culture domain;
– what are the criteria for applying for a subsidy;
– how to apply;
– introduction to the Nordic Council of Ministers and an overview of its representational structure and function in Estonia in 2018.
The opening speeches were given by Anti Allas, mayor of Võru city, and the head of Nordic Council of Ministers branch in Estonia, Tartu, Madis Kanarbik, and the director of the Nordic Council of Ministers local agency, Christer Haglund, introducing the Nordic Council of Ministers mission for the year 2018.
There was a speech by Võru municipality development advisor Tiina Hallimäe about best practices, via Skype connection there was also an overview about best practices by Piret Talur, head of Tartu municipality culture department youth service, and Eda Veeroja, head of the NGO Sann and Süük, gave an overview about the Nordic and Baltic NGO program.
The workshops were enriched by beneficial guidelines by the Nordic Council of Ministers officers Eha Vain (culture), Merle Kuusk (NGOs and study visits for officials to branch offices of NCM), and Madis Kanarbik (public administration).
Photography and text by: NordenBladet/Helena-Reet Ennet
NordenBladet – The annual Finland’s tourism fair is the biggest event for the travel industry in Northern-European and the Baltic Sea region. The fair attracts to Helsinki the Finnish as well as international travel organizers, travel bureaus around the world are represented as well as key persons from tourism business.
Of course, also the best of Scandinavian travel bloggers and representatives from the largest media enterprises are present (see HERE) – NordenBladet, OHMYGOSIIP -sites, BlogList24 and the Nordic premium travelbloggers from the community of #NordicBloggers (NordicBloggers.com see HERE) are always present. Visitors of the tourism fair will be updated about new travel destinations and travelservices and enterprises will have the platform to exchange contacts and conclude novel cooperation and networking contracts.
The travel fair opened its doors on Wednesday when there was a grand workshop day for the leaders of tourism companies (see the gallery HERE), on Thursday (18 January) the fair was open for the media (the current pictures from the fair have been taken on Thursday) and from today, 19 January the fair is open to all travel enthusiasts. The yearly Matka Travel Fair, held in Helsinki exhibition centre (Messuaukio 1), is open for visitors until Sunday! See also the voluminous gallery about enterprises represented at the tourism fair!
NordenBladet – Matka Workshop Day was held on 17 January 2018 at the Nordic Travel Fair MATKA 2018 and it included two events: Meet Finland and Global Workshop. This B2B matchmaking event brought together travel trade professionals globally seeking to connect with key contacts and to facilitate business deals.
The event was an excellent forum to learn about possibilities for expanding business activities with Finnish and international tour operators, travel agencies and online agents. NordenBladet will bring you the exclusive gallery about this event.
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Find pictures about MATKA 2018 workshop day also from our Instagram: @Estella.Elisheva and @helenareetennet Instagramist:
NordenBladet – The 24-year-old Gustav Magnar Witzøe is Norway’s richest person with a capital of NOK 11.1 billion. He is shareholder of his father’s marine business. According the tax list, The 24-year-old Gustav Magnar Witzøe has the most wealth and paid the highest tax in Norway last year.
Towards the end of 2011 Witzøe has taken over all shares from his father’s company Kverva, which at that time made him Norway’s youngest billionaire.
After five years, he has now been listed with a capital of NOK 11.14 billion as the richest person in Norway. This is an increase of NOK 1.3 billion from the previous year.
The country’s second richest is the businessman in fishing industry, Kjell Inge Røkke with a capital of over NOK 11 billion.
