Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will attend the 19thSession of the Indo-Swedish Joint Commission for Economic, Industrial and Scientific Cooperation in Stockholm, Sweden on October 23, an official statement said.
There is significant potential for enhancing bilateral collaboration in key areas like green technologies, renewable energy, smart infrastructure, healthcare and defence. Trade in services is large and growing, especially in areas of IT, business services, travel and transportation, it said.
According to the International Trade Centre figures, in 2016, the total bilateral trade in service was worth USD 1.23 billion, which included Indian service exports of USD 767 million to Sweden and Swedish service exports of USD 458 million to India.
According to available statistics, the main items of Indian exports to Sweden were articles of apparel, clothing accessories, textiles yarn, fabrics, manufactures of metals, road vehicles, general industrial machinery and equipment. The main items of Indian imports from Sweden were pulp and waste paper, road vehicles, paper board, general industrial machinery and equipment, iron and steel and power generating machinery & equipment.
Sweden has a long history of investments in India. As per October 2017 data, there are over 170 Swedish joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries in India. Sweden is the 20th largest foreign investor in India with cumulative investment of USD 8.51 billion between January 2003 and January 2017.
Over the last decade, Indian investment in Sweden has also increased. There are over 70 Indian companies including IT companies currently present in Sweden. Indian pharma and biotech companies like Dr.Reddys, Biocon, Kemwell and Cadila Pharma have formed collaborative relations in Sweden, it added.
