Visit of Prime Minister of India to Sweden (16-17 April 2018)

On 16th and 17th April 2018, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited Sweden on the invitation of Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Lofven.
Visit of Prime Minister of India to Sweden (16-17 April 2018)

  • This was Prime Minister’s first visit to Sweden. Also, this was the first visit to Sweden by Indian Prime Minister after three decades.
  • During the visit Narendra Modi held separate bilateral meetings with PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen of Denmark, PM Juha Sipila of Finland, PM Katrin Jakobsdottir of Iceland and PM Erna Solberg of Norway on 17 April 2018.
  • Prime Ministers of India and Sweden participated in a Round-table meeting with about 30 CEOs of top Swedish enterprises.

India – Nordic Council Summit:

i. During the visit, India and Sweden hosted an India-Nordic Summit on 17 April 2018, named ‘India-Nordic Summit: Shared Values, Mutual Prosperity’.

ii. All Nordic Prime Ministers, PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen of Denmark, PM Juha Sipila of Finland, PM Katrin Jakobsdottir of Iceland and PM Erna Solberg of Norway, participated in the Summit.

iii. Annual India-Nordic trade is about $5.3 billion. The cumulative Nordic FDI into India is $2.5 billion.

iv. At the end of the Summit, India and the Nordic countries issued a Joint Statement.

Sweden India Joint Action Plan (April 17, 2018):

To promote bilateral cooperation, the following India-Sweden Joint Action Plan was decided. As per the Joint Action Plan, India and Sweden, through relevant ministries, agencies and actors, aim to:

Innovation:

  • Initiate a multi-stake holder Innovation Partnership for a Sustainable Future, to improve prosperity and growth and address societal challenges like climate change and sustainable development through innovation.
  • Perform dialogue and cooperative activities in intellectual property rights as per the MoU between the Swedish Patent Registration Office and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of India.

Trade and investment

  • Promote trade and investment in both directions, like Sweden’s investment in India through ‘Invest India’ and Indian investment in Sweden through ‘Business Sweden’.
  • Promote the work of the India-Sweden Business Leaders Round Table (ISBLRT) to strengthen India-Sweden business cooperation in smart cities, digitization, skills development and defence.

Smart Cities and Next Generation Transport

  • Knowledge sharing and cooperation on smart cities, transit-oriented urban development, air pollution control, waste management, waste-to-energy, waste-water treatment, district cooling and circular economy, also through dialogue and capacity building.
  • Exchange of knowledge and cooperation in electro-mobility and renewable fuels.
  • Knowledge sharing and cooperation in railway policy development, safety, training and operation and maintenance of railways.

Smart, sustainable and renewable energy

  • mutual collaboration in development of smart grid technologies like smart metering, demand response, power quality management, distribution automation, electric vehicle and charging infrastructure, renewable integration, through research, capacity building, policy cooperation
  • Expand research, innovation and business cooperation on new innovative energy technologies through the India-Sweden Innovations’ Accelerator, focused on technologies using renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Women’s skills development and empowerment

  • Encourage women empowerment by skilling employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women through projects like“Kraftsamla”.
  • It has been undertaken by Swedish and Indian actors in Pune, Maharashtra. It offer skills training for women in jobs like forklift drivers, warehouse managers, assembly operators etc.

Defence

  • Explore the finalization of a bilateral agreement on exchange and mutual protection of classified information for cooperation in the defence area.
  • Improve Indo-Swedish dialogue on defence cooperation. Continue with India-Sweden defence seminars in India and Sweden in 2018-19 and explore, with the ISBLRT, opportunities for investment in Defence Production Corridors in India
  • Promote industry partners to develop supply chains for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with major Defence & Aerospace Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)

Space and science

  • Acknowledge the importance of bilateral cooperation on space research, technology, innovation and applications. Encourage space agencies to improve space cooperation under the MoU, especially in Earth observation, planetary exploration and satellite ground station activities, through an Indo-Swedish Space Seminar and a visit by an Indian delegation to Swedish space establishments.
  • Explore possible collaboration between the European Spallation Source (ESS), hosted by Sweden, and Indian partners.

Health and Life Sciences

Improve collaboration in health sector like health research, pharmaco vigilance and anti-microbial resistance, under the MoU in the field of health care and public health.

Follow-up

The implementation of this Action Plan will be overseen by the Indo-Swedish Joint Commission on Scientific and Economic Affairs, Foreign Office Consultations and other relevant bilateral fora and Joint Working Groups.

List of MOUs and Agreements signed and exchanged on the occasion of the visit of Prime Minister to Stockholm (April 16-17,2018):

MOUs/Agreements between India and Sweden:

  • Joint Declaration on India-Sweden Innovation Partnership for a Sustainable Future:between Ministry of Science and Technology of India and the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation of Sweden

MOUs/Agreements between India and Denmark:

  • MOU on Cooperation in the field of Sustainable and Smart Urban Development:between the Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs of India and the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs of Denmark
  • MOU on Cooperation in the fields of Animal Husbandry and Dairying:between Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare of India and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark
  • MOU on Food Safety Cooperation:between the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration
  • MOU on Cooperation in Agricultural Research and Education:between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Denmark

MOUs/Agreements between India and Iceland:

  • MOU on the Establishment of the ICCR Chair for Hindi Language:between Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the University of Iceland

About Sweden:
♦ Capital – Stockholm
♦ Currency – Swedish krona
♦ Prime Minister – Stefan Löfven





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