Carl Bildt
© AFP/SCANPIX Janerik HenrikssonSTOCKHOLM (AFP) - "Second Life is just beginning so we do not know its full potential. Ten years ago we didn't know the potential of Google for instance," Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said at a ceremony in Stockholm to launch the diplomatic mission.
The Maldives opened its Second Life embassy last week, making Sweden's virtual mission the second in the world.
The embassy was inaugurated, both in the real and virtual world, by Bildt and Olle Waestberg, the director of the Swedish Institute, a foreign ministry agency tasked with spreading information about Sweden.
The building, named Second House of Sweden, is located on an 64 hectare (158 acres) island and was inspired by the real embassy in Washington. It has large French windows, Scandinavian-style wooden trimmings and is furnished with Swedish design furniture.
Exhibitions and cultural events that take place in the country will also be presented in the virtual world as will businesses and famous Swedes.
"We can use Second Life to spread information about Sweden. There are good web sites but it's another instrument," Bildt said.
According to the minister, Second Life is also a good way to reach a wide audience and especially "a lot of young people all over the world."
The virtual embassy will not have a political function nor will it provide passports or visas. It will instruct visitors how to obtain such documents in the real world and act as a link to web-based information about the Scandinavian country.
Second Life, created by San Francisco technology company Linden Labs, has attracted several real-world companies, including car manufacturers and sports clothing makers, which have created 3-D stores.
On Wednesday, according to the Second Life website (http://secondlife.com/), there were 6.8 million residents in its alternative reality.
©AFP