Stepping up their defence ties, India and Sweden signed a security protection agreement that will enable the two countries to share classified information with each other, a statement by the Swedish embassy said on Thursday.
The agreement was signed on Wednesday during Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's visit to the Nordic country.
Sitharaman also met Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and her Swedish counterpart Peter Hultqvist.
"The purpose of the visit was to sign a security protection agreement between Sweden and India. The signing of the security protection agreement between Sweden and India will enable both countries to share classified information with each other," the statement said.
Since 2009, Sweden and India have had a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the area of defence, and they conducted a number of bilateral meetings, most recently in December 2018 in New Delhi. In April 2018, Prime Minister Modi also visited Sweden.
"The agreement that I and Shrimati Nirmala Sitharaman signed is an important step in implementing the action plan on deeper cooperation with India," the statement quoting Hultqvist said.
Sweden has had similar agreements with over 30 countries around the world, as well as with the EU and NATO, the statement added.
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