Look forward to developing progress with Sweden in defence, emerging technologies, people-to-people connect: Indian envoy

Stockholm: India's Ambassador to Sweden, Anurag Bhushan, on Thursday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Gothenburg "historic" and emphasised that both nations look forward to developing progress at the strategic level, economic partnership, emerging technologies and people-to-people connect.

In an interview with IANS, Bhushan said that India and Sweden have been making efforts to double bilateral trade and investment through economic exchanges by 2030. He cited increased engagements between India and Sweden following PM Modi's visit in May, which include visits by the Haryana Chief Minister, the Defence Production Secretary, the Communication Secretary and businesses.

Asked about the concrete changes seen in bilateral ties following PM Modi's May visit, the envoy said: "Prime Minister Modi's visit to Sweden in Gothenburg was a historic visit. Beyond the very warm and cordial atmosphere and a very warm relationship between the two prime ministers, there was also very substantive content in the visit. The most important part of the visit was the elevation of our partnership to a Strategic Partnership. Now, what does strategic partnership mean? So, the two Prime Ministers also issued a joint statement. And if you see the joint statement, it clearly indicates which are the areas where the two leaders are anticipating progress in our partnership. So, there is a strategic level, of course, that includes state security, defence, political dialogue and so on."

"The second one is economic partnership, and so the two Prime Ministers, they said that we should move to the next level, next generation of economic partnership. The third is emerging technologies and trusted connectivity. Technology has become a very important part of geopolitics... become a very important determinant and driver. And the third is the people-to-people connect. So, these are the four areas where we look forward to developing progress. And then there was a concrete target that was set by the two prime ministers, which was to double our bilateral trade and investment through economic exchanges by 2030 in the next five years. So, this is the target that has been set, and I think if you really see that subsequent to the visit our effort has been to put this on the ground at the implementation level," he added.

Prime Minister Modi had visited Gothenburg in May as part of a five-nation tour, holding delegation-level talks with his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson, during which the two sides elevated bilateral relations to a Strategic Partnership. He also addressed the European Roundtable for Industry alongside Kristersson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Ambassador Bhushan said: "The two Prime Ministers also adopted an action plan, and that action plan is for the next five years; it lays the roadmap for how these targets and the objectives set up in the joint statement have to be implemented. So, this is how this vision will be implemented on the ground, and if you see, we have already achieved quite a lot. Haryana Chief Minister's visit, then visit by Secretary Defence Production and now Secretary Communication, and there have been many business visits by CII and other organisations. There have been some state-level visits also. Andhra Pradesh is one. Then Goa is another, and of course, Gujarat is going to come shortly. So we are into implementation with full steam."

He said that defence is an important part of India-Sweden ties and recalled how both nations, during PM Modi's visit, decided to enhance dialogue on defence matters. He emphasised that India and Sweden have a "well-defined roadmap" for enhancing defence cooperation and the two nations want to move from a buyer-seller relationship to co-development and co-production.

Asked how Strategic Partnership is strengthening India-Sweden defence cooperation, the envoy said: "In the Joint Action Plan, as well as in the Joint Statement, defence is a very important part of our partnership because we have a very historic relationship with Sweden on this score. Both sides, during the Prime Minister's visit, decided to enhance our dialogue on defence matters and also to explore cooperation on investments and defence innovation. And so subsequently, we had a visit by the Secretary, Defence Production, which went a long way in terms of understanding the areas where we should cooperate, and this visit was followed by a meeting of the Joint Working Group on Defence Matters in India. So, together, all in all, we have a very well-defined roadmap for enhancing defence cooperation."

"The overall approach of both India and Sweden is to move from a buyer-seller kind of relationship towards co-development and co-production, and we are therefore looking at technology partnership that builds capability in both countries, and also we are seeing some early successes. For example, SAAB, which is a major defence company in Sweden, is setting up a Carl Gustaf M4 facility in Haryana in Jhajjar with 100 per cent FDI, and this would be one of these one-of-a-kind. So I think this is a kind of a model for deeper industrial collaboration on defence, and we are keenly looking forward to similar partnerships. Similarly, we are also looking at Indian defence companies looking to set up their manufacturing facilities here and to expand their capabilities. We have to also add here that the FDA will surely if and when it is implemented will surely help in furthering this objective of the two countries to expand defence cooperation in production," he added.

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