Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Gothenburg on Sunday on the third leg of his five-nation tour, where India and Sweden are scheduled to hold wide-ranging discussions on trade, innovation, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
The visit, scheduled for May 17 and 18, comes at the invitation of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The trip will provide an opportunity to review India’s engagement with the European Union via Sweden, officials said.
Modi had earlier visited Sweden in 2018 to attend the first summit between India and the Nordic countries.
What’s on the Swedish Prime Minister’s agenda?
This time, the Prime Minister is expected to hold bilateral talks with Christerson covering “the entire gamut of bilateral relations”, with a strong focus on strengthening trade and investment ties.
The State Department said discussions will include cooperation in “green transition, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, start-ups, resilient supply chains, defence, space, climate action and people-to-people relations.”
The two leaders are also expected to deliver a joint speech at the European Industry Roundtable, a major pan-European business forum, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The visit assumes added significance following the recent conclusion of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement, as New Delhi looks to deepen economic engagement with Europe, officials said.
The economic fallout of the ongoing Iran-US conflict is also expected to come up during discussions in Sweden, as it has in other stages of Modi’s tour, people familiar with the matter told HT.
Indo-Swedish relations
With bilateral trade between India and Sweden reaching $7.75 billion in 2025, trade and investment are likely to dominate the talks. Swedish foreign direct investment in India also reached $2.825 billion between 2000 and 2025.
New Delhi is also looking to strengthen ties with Sweden’s innovation ecosystem, which is considered among the strongest in Europe. The country leads Europe in the number of unicorns per capita. Its ecosystem of startups, research institutions and global companies is seen as complementary to India’s rapidly expanding entrepreneurship and technology sector.
According to an earlier HT report, nearly 7% of EU companies operating in India are Swedish, making Sweden the seventh largest EU exporter to India. Meanwhile, India is Sweden’s eighth largest export market outside the EU.
The visit is expected to deepen cooperation under the India-Sweden Joint Action Plan and Joint Innovation Partnership launched after the first Indo-North Summit in 2018.
