Significance & Analysis of Prime Minister’s Visit to Sweden and United Kingdom

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TOPIC: General Studies 2:

• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Sweden and Nordic

India’s trade with the Nordic countries totalled around USD 5.3 billion in 2016-17, with Cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to India at USD 2.5 billion.

Transformational visit: Prime Minister is going to co-host the 1st India-Nordic Summit and will attend the India Sweden Bilateral Summit, after 30 years.

Win-win partnership: Economic interests driving bilateral relations

From Sweden

• Area of ICT
• Renewables and Green energy
• Smart city
• Waste Management
• Defense

Nordic countries have spent money, time and effort on

• Innovation as well R&D
• Economical and technological advancement
• Norway: Huge pension fund and if invested in India
• Iceland: Fishing; trawlers are like factories of fish, right from fishing, to storing, to refrigerating, to marketing and to export – need to take a leaf out of their book to learn

From India, a country can expect:

• Human resources
• Huge market – more than 160 Swedish companies are now established in India, including powerhouses like Ikea and H&M, who are both expanding in the market.

The Nordic countries have globally recognized strengths in clean technologies, environmental solutions, port modernization, food processing, health, agriculture infrastructure, skill development and innovation which are also the focus areas of India’s development. These complementarities and the unique strengths of India and the Nordic countries hold the potential to further boost trade and investment from both sides.

UK

India and the United Kingdom share a modern partnership bound by strong historical ties. In 2004, the bilateral relationship was upgraded to a strategic partnership. UK is among India’s major trading partners. The merchandise trade between the two countries in 2017 reached $13 billion, and trade in services is around US$7.2 billion.

UK is the 4th largest inward investor in India with a cumulative equity investment of US $25.31 billion, accounting for around 7% of all foreign direct investment into India. India continued to be the third largest investor in the UK and emerged as the second largest international job creator with Indian companies having created over 110,000 jobs in the UK.

Britain is looking at its future as it moves out of the EU. India would like its relations with UK to prosper and grow, and it will be a great opportunity for a great bilateral trading arrangement.

Areas of cooperation: Technology + Robotics +Artificial Intelligence + Cyber-Security + Terrorism + Security

CHOGM: Link

Huge Indian Diaspora: Significant move where PM Modi, in a transparent manner, answered all the questions on sensitive issues

Ayurveda as soft power in diplomacy: Haven’t given much importance that we should have.