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Sweden is keen to step up its trade and investment relations with India. This was conveyed by Mr. Kenneth Bertilsson, Consul General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden, when he called on Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, here last evening. He emphasised in particular that Sweden was keen to import more from India. The Minister agreed that there was scope for greater cooperation between India and Sweden in terms of both trade and investment, especially at the level of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Mr. Bertilsson indicated that his team had had useful discussions with their Indian counterparts both in Mumbai and Delhi in various sectors including information technology (IT) and “possible co-productions between the Swedish film industry and Bollywood”. On his part, Shri Kamal Nath flagged some issues of concern to the Indian industry in Sweden, especially the issue of social security taxes and the long time taken for processing visas and work permits in Sweden from Indian businesses including IT professionals. The Swedish side assured to look into the matter raised by the Minister.
Bilateral trade between India and Sweden has shown impressive growth in the last five years. During the first 3 months of 2004-0, two-way trade has grown by almost 84%. Total trade in 2003-04 between India and Sweden was US $ 918.02 million, showing an increase of 32%. Of this, exports from India to Sweden were valued at US $ 218.05 million and imports by India from Sweden at US $ 699.97 million.
Both the sides have agreed to have a meeting of the Indo-Swedish Joint Commission early next year with participation of business representatives from the two sides.
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