Sweden to launch ‘Time for India’ campaign

Context:

Sweden’s ambassador in India said that Sweden will soon launch a trade promotion event — Time for India — to boost bilateral trade and hinted that the Swedish Government may take a more liberal post-COVID visa policy for India soon.

Relevance:

GS-II: International Relations (Foreign Policies and Treaties affecting India’s Interests)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Sweden’s ‘Time for India’ campaign
2. 8th India-Sweden Innovation Day ’21
3. India – Sweden Relations

Sweden’s ‘Time for India’ campaign

• Sweden’s Ambassador in India will lead a Swedish diplomatic and economic delegation in November to Sweden and team up with the Indian embassy in Stockholm and launch a promotional campaign for Indian business.
• The team will hold meetings and seminars in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo that are expected to be attended by a large number of companies and Swedish investors.
• These seminars will be used to inform interested companies and people in trading and investing in India.
• The “global entry” policy of Sweden is part of its post-COVID19 recovery plan which is being examined continuously depending on the scale of the pandemic.
• The Business Climate Survey (BCS) reveals that Swedish companies reported growth and profit in the third quarter of 2020 despite the pandemic scenario in India.

8th India-Sweden Innovation Day ’21

• India and Sweden are celebrating the 8th Innovation Day on 26th October at through an online event themed “Accelerating India Sweden’s Green Transition”.
• The online event is hosted by India Unlimited in association with the Embassy of India in Sweden, Sweden-India Business Council, and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
• India Unlimited was founded in 2013 to promote cross-cultural ties between India and Sweden in association with the Embassy of India in Sweden and Sweden-India Business Council.
• In the last seven years, the organization has hosted a number of events in Stockholm and Gothenburg showcasing the diversity of Indian cultural, economic and social life.
• The forum will lead discussions to analyse various aspects of technology concerning the two nations, including Sweden-India Tech Startup Ecosystems, Joint Investments in Technology, Healthcare, Energy, Transportation, Industry 4.0, Technology Parks, Sweden-India Future Trends and the scope of Artificial Intelligence.

India – Sweden Relations

• The first India-Nordic Summit took place in the year 2018 following which King and Queen of Sweden gave a Royal Visit to India.
• After China and Japan, India is Sweden’s third largest trade partner in Asia. The main items of Indian exports to Sweden are articles of apparel, clothing accessories; textiles yarn, fabrics, made-ups; manufactures of metals; road vehicles; general industrial machinery and equipment.
• The main items of Indian imports from Sweden are pulp and waste paper; road vehicles; paper and paper board, general industrial machinery and equipment etc.
• It has been argued that India can be benefited by imitating the Nordic approach to innovation systems, characterised by a strong collaboration between public sector, private sector and academia.
• In areas like clean technologies, maritime solutions, port modernisation, food processing, health, life-sciences and agriculture, Nordic solutions have been deemed to be useful.

-Source: The Hindu