Stockholm : India and Sweden on Monday agreed to re-start the bilateral strategic dialogue after a gap of four years besides finding ways for investment by the Nordic country in India’s defence sector under the ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative.
This was conveyed to President Pranab Mukherjee, who is here on a state visit, the first-ever by any Indian head of state, by Swedish Prime Minister Stefen Lofven who called on him along with his cabinet colleagues.
It was agreed that the two countries would re-start their strategic dialogue between the two National Security Advisors, Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs Navtej Sarna told reporters here.
Asked why the dialogue was stalled in 2011, Sarna made it clear that there was no breakdown in the talks but only that the two countries had got into election mode. “Now that two new NSAs had been appointed, they will restart the process which is expected to begin soon,” he said.
The official informed that Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist would be in India for two days beginning from June 10 during which he will look about the possibility of engaging with New Delhi in the defence sector.
With changed Foreign Direct Investments rules and Make in India campaign, it is expected that the Swedish government would look for India as a manufacturing base, he said. A Memorandum of Understanding on Defence between Sweden and India was signed in November 2009.
The MoU sets out several areas for cooperation between the defence authorities of the parties for the purpose of mutual benefit.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister also shared the view that in a reformed United Nations Security Council, Sweden believed that India had credentials to be a part of it. “In view of the size as well as speed at which it was growing, India is a natural claimant for being a part of the UNSC,” the Prime Minister was quoted by the diplomat as saying. Lofven also told the President that Sweden supported India’s entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which is an voluntary association of 34 countries favouring non-proliferation of unmanned delivery systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
