Gothenburg, May 18 (IANS) Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson shared the upgraded cooperation areas for India-Sweden at the joint press meet at the European Round Table for Industry on Sunday, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Kristersson said that India and Sweden are expanding the cooperation into innovation, emerging technologies, AI, space and geospatial technology, along with the green transition.
“As for concrete outcomes of today’s meetings, first, we have agreed to launch a joint innovation partnership 2.0 and to set up a joint centre for science and technology to connect academic institutions in both countries,” the Swedish Prime Minister detailed on the enhanced cooperation.
“We will enhance our political dialogue on security and defence-related matters, including through a dialogue between our country’s national security advisors,” he added.
He also announced a leadership group for industry transition called LEAD-IT, which will be co-chaired by India and Sweden.
“Through LEAD-IT, we will continue to drive this global movement for accelerating the green transition of heavy industry,” he added.
“Sky is not the limit for the Sweden-India partnership,” Kristersson said, mentioning that Indian Space Research Organisation and Sweden’s National Space Agency have joined forces since the 1980s.
“I’m very pleased that our two space organisations have signed an MoU to collaborate on an instrument that will be part of the Venus orbiter mission. So Sweden is proud to be on our way to Venus together with India,” the Swedish Prime Minister noted.
He said that India and Sweden have a joint ambition to double our bilateral trade and investments within five years, but with the current speed, he believed it can be sooner.
“I regard this Free Trade Agreement (FTA) not as the end of the road but the beginning of a new journey. Sweden, together with India and with our European friends, is very committed to making sure this partnership lives up to its true potential,” he added, thanking President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said that the India-European Union (EU) FTA is estimated to create some 23,000 new jobs in Sweden, with more than 6,000 of them here in the Gothenburg region.
–IANS
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