Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the various business deals between India and Sweden.
NEW DELHI: Indian and Swedish companies have decided to explore business opportunities in both the countries which will help increase their overall productivity.
At the “India-Sweden Business Summit”, organised by “Business Sweden” in the capital on the sidelines of the State visit of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia to India, the participants deliberated in detail about the areas on which the two countries work together. The summit was attended by a high-level business delegation representing Swedish companies, along with representatives of Swedish government agencies and universities, besides India Inc.
The summit was part of the State visit of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia to India from 2 to 6 December at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind. The two dignitaries also travelled to Mumbai and Uttarakhand during their visit. The aim of the State visit was to strengthen the cordial relations between Sweden and India, and to promote Swedish-Indian cooperation, including within the frameworks of the Joint Action Plan, the Innovation Partnership and existing memoranda of understanding.
Welcoming the participants, Fredrik Persson, chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Industry, presented his opening remarks, while the keynote address was delivered by Leif Johansson, chairman, AstraZeneca, followed by a special address by Ibrahim Baylan, Sweden’s Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation.
Speaking on the occasion, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the various business deals between India and Sweden and how both the countries are generating employment for the citizens of India and Sweden and catalysing their economic growth.
Speaking at the summit, Ylva Berg, President and CEO, Business Sweden, said: “This delegation is strengthening the foundation of our relation built on more than 20 business delegations in recent years. Sweden and India share values and have an understanding that enables collaboration for innovative solutions when facing challenges of a growing population, pollution and climate change.”
Anders Wickberg, Trade Commissioner to India, Market Area Director South Asia, said: “It is a great honour to have so many Swedish enterprises showing extended interest in India and attending our High Level Business Delegation. Over 50 companies and institutions have chosen to participate, exemplifying increasing interest in India and positive signals for the future, furthering our bilateral relations.”
“Business Sweden” is an organisation jointly owned by the Government of Sweden and representatives from the Swedish business community, through the Swedish Foreign Trade Association. Business Sweden’s purpose is to help Swedish companies grow their global sales and international companies to invest and expand in Sweden.
A high-level policy dialogue on innovation policy was also held which was jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf. It was hosted by K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. The dialogue brought together 30 government officials, prominent industrialists as well as renowned academicians from both Sweden and India and created a platform with key stakeholders in a triple helix format from the government, private sector and academia to provide overall strategic direction for joint innovation policy formulation.
On 17 April 2018, India and Sweden had signed a joint innovation partnership to deepen the collaboration between the two countries and contribute to sustainable growth and new job opportunities. The partnership was signed during the visit of PM Modi to Sweden.