Make in India Week: India, Sweden decide to step up ties

India and Sweden today resolved to scale up bilateral relations and expressed their commitment to a transparent, fair and predictable global trade regime under the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"... India's economic development and rise as a global power have created new opportunities to further deepen and extend this partnership to foster economic growth and inclusive development in both countries as well as to meet global challenges," said the joint statement following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Swedish counterpart, Stefan Lofven.

The prime ministers of the two nations have "agreed to scale up bilateral relations and committed to a close bilateral dialogue at all levels", it said.

The two leaders also underlined the need to tap full potential of the EU-India strategic partnership and welcomed the prospect of resumption of talks on the India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement.

"Both the Indian and Swedish sides remain committed to the WTO and a transparent, fair and predictable global trade regime," the statement said.

The two prime ministers committed to a continued dialogue within the framework of the joint commission to enhance the environment for doing business in their respective countries and further facilitate and promote bilateral economic cooperation.

On increasing cooperation on defence matters, it said both the leaders agreed that India and Sweden will enhance dialogue on defence in key areas.

"The two prime ministers acknowledged the potential for successful collaboration and agreed that under the rubric of Make in India, co-operation possibilities between their respective defence industries could be identified and taken forward appropriately, including in the field of aviation," it added.

Further, both the Prime Ministers agreed to a deeper bilateral dialogue on UN Issues at both capital and UN-Mission level.

"They reiterated the need for urgent reforms of the UN Security Council through an expansion in both categories of membership, to make it more effective and representative of the contemporary geo-political realities," it said.

Lofven was of the view that it would be inconceivable that an important global actor such as India is not a permanent member of an enlarged Security Council and said he will seek parliamentary support for this view.

"The two countries called for forward movement in the inter-governmental negotiations on UN Security Council reforms and stressed their commitment to initiate text-based negotiations within the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly," the joint statement said.

Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India's support for Sweden's candidature for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for 2017-18.

According to the joint statement, both the leaders supported a stronger business-to-business dialogue between the two countries and welcomed the creation of an India-Sweden Business Leaders' Round Table.

Recognising the potential benefits of expanding and deepening cooperation in IT and digital industries, both sides endorsed the creation of a new Joint Working Group on digital technologies and economy.

Recognising the potential in the area of transport and infrastructure, the two countries agreed to explore a deeper collaboration.

Both also appreciated the revival of the NSA-level bilateral dialogue and welcomed the commitment to develop a road map for a deeper engagement on issues of mutual strategic interest.

In their joint efforts to strengthen global non-proliferation and disarmament objectives, it said India and Sweden committed to working towards India's further participation in the multilateral export control regimes.

"The two Prime Ministers recognised the common interest in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism and the benefits of a closer dialogue and mutual exchange of information and good practices," the joint statement said, adding that "they looked forward to an exchange of visits of their respective special envoys, with a view to exploring agency-level cooperation, capacity building... Finalising a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism".

The Prime Ministers, it said, are committed to promoting human rights online, cyber security, combating cybercrime, and developing a common understanding on international cyber issues and supporting an open, inclusive, transparent and multi-stakeholder system of Internet governance as well as the application of international law in cyberspace.

"In this regard, both sides agreed to explore cooperation among relevant agencies through a second round of bilateral consultations on cyber issues," it added.

Meanwhile, after inaugurating the Make In India Centre Expo here, Prime Minister Modi today held bilateral talks with his counterparts from Sweden, Finland and also the deputy prime minister of Poland.

In his talks with his Swedish counterpart Lofven, Modi invited Swedish companies to forge partnerships in defence, electronic goods, medical equipment etc, an official statement said.

Modi recalled long association of his home state Gujarat with Poland during his bilateral talks with the Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski.

He discussed areas of cooperation in food processing, clean energy and transportation sectors with Glinski, the statement added.