India, Sweden to deepen collaboration through strategic innovation partnership

Sweden supports India's bid for NSG membership

18/04/2018

STOCKHOLM, Apr 17: India and Sweden today agreed to strengthen defence and security cooperation and also unveiled a strategic innovation partnership and a joint action plan for a "win-win" outcome during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven.
Modi, who arrived in the Swedish capital yesterday for the first bilateral visit by an Indian premier to the Nordic nation in 30 years, noted that defence and security cooperation remained a "key pillar" in the bilateral ties.
The two prime ministers had a "fruitful discussion on issues related to cooperation in innovation, trade & investment, culture and exchanged views on regional and multilateral cooperation at the delegation-level talks," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
Two documents were agreed to between India and Sweden following the delegation-level talks -- Innovation Partnership and Joint Action Plan -- to maximise bilateral cooperation for the benefit of the people.
In a joint press statement after the talks, Prime Minister Modi said the two sides focused on how Sweden can help India in its development journey.
"I believe that the most important topic in our talks today was how Sweden can have a win-win partnership with India on the opportunities arising out of India's development. As a result, we have agreed on an innovation partnership and a joint action plan," he said.
He said innovation, investment, start-ups, manufacturing etc. are the key aspects of cooperation between India and Sweden.
"Along with them, we are also giving importance to areas such as renewable energy, urban transport, waste management, that our connected with the quality of life of the people in India," Modi added.
Modi said India and Sweden have also agreed to strengthen their defence and security cooperation.
"A key pillar of our bilateral ties is our defence and security cooperation. In the defence sector, Sweden has been India's partner from a long time. I have faith that in future also in this sector, particularly in defence production, there will be plenty of opportunities for bilateral cooperation. We have decided to strengthen our cooperation in the security sector, particularly in cyber security."
The two sides agreed to enhance Indo-Swedish dialogue on defence cooperation and explore the finalisation of a bilateral agreement on exchange and mutual protection of classified information for cooperation in defence.
They also decided to encourage industry partners to develop supply chains for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with major Defence & Aerospace Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
Both Prime Ministers expressed their commitment to support and strengthen global export control, non-proliferation and disarmament objectives and looked forward to close cooperation in these areas.
On his part, Swedish Prime Minister Lofven lauded India as "global power" and said the two countries are a "perfect match". He said there has been an intensification of cooperation in areas such as green technology and smart cities.
He welcomed India's recent accession to the international export control regimes, including to Australia Group (AG), Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), and The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC).
Prime Minister Lofven expressed support for India's membership of the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG).
Both Prime Ministers called for greater unity and stronger international partnership to counter terrorism, disrupt terrorist networks and financing, and to prevent violent extremism.
They emphasized that the global counter terrorism legal framework should be regularly updated to address the changing threat of terrorism with strength, and underscored that any measures taken to counter terrorism comply with international law. Both the leaders called for an early finalisation of the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
Both Prime Ministers agreed to close cooperation in the UN, and other multilateral fora. Prime Minister Modi thanked Lofven for Sweden's support to India's candidature for non-permanent membership of UN Security Council (2021-22) and for Sweden's support to India's permanent membership of a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council.
A Joint Declaration on Sweden-India Innovation Partnership for a Sustainable Future said the two governments agreed to deepen collaboration in the field of innovation through a strategic innovation partnership.
"The innovation partnership represents a step-change in India-Sweden science and innovation collaboration, underpinning our mutual commitment to drive prosperity and address global challenges such as climate change and sustainable development through innovation," it said.
The partnership sets the framework for future cooperation to jointly tackle societal challenges including innovation driven challenges on cross sectoral issues with multi-stakeholder/agency participation from both countries, it said.
The partnership covers several areas, including smart cities, transportation and eMobility, energy, clean technologies, new materials, space, circular and bio-based economy, and health and life sciences.
Earlier, Prime Minister Modi called on Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and exchanged views on strengthening bilateral cooperation across several sectors.
Modi is in Stockholm on the first leg of his five-day foreign tour.
Sweden today backed India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as it welcomed New Delhi's recent accession to the international export control regimes, including Wassenaar Arrangement and Missile Technology Control Regime.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven expressed his country's support to India during his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.
India's membership to the 48-member elite nuclear club is being primarily opposed by China on the pretext that it is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Out of the four export control regimes that work to keep proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in check, India is a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group.
"Prime Minister Lofven welcomed India's recent accession to the international export control regimes, including to Australia Group (AG), Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), and The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC), and expressed support for India's membership of the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG)," according to Sweden-India Joint Action Plan.
Sweden also extended support to India's permanent membership of a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council.
Prime Minister Modi thanked his Swedish counterpart for Sweden's support to India.

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