• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, April 7, 2016

Need a good recipe for Swedish meatballs? Want to know if that crazy Bernie Sanders is right about parental leave in Sweden? Now you can call a Swede and ask.

The Scandinavian country famous for northern lights, Volvo and ABBA, among other things, has become the first country in the world with its own telephone number.

Open to everyone around the world, the number — +46 771 SWEDEN (793 336) — connects callers with random Swedes to talk about anything — politics, gay rights, women’s rights laws or to hear the chants of a football game.

An initiative by the Swedish Tourist Association, The Swedish Number was created to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Sweden becoming the first country in the world to abolish censorship.

“In troubled times, many countries try and limit communication between people, but we want to do just the opposite,” says Magnus Ling, general secretary and CEO of the Swedish Tourist Association. “So, instead, we are making Sweden the first country in the world with its own phone number and giving our fellow Swedes the opportunity to answer the calls, express themselves and share their views, whatever they might be.”

To create The Swedish Number, the Swedish Tourist Association partnered with a leading provider of contact solutions, to create one of the largest switchboards in the world that supports incoming phone calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their cloud-based contact center is used to register ambassadors and connect all calls. The switchboard is designed to randomly choose one of the Swede ambassadors for each call.