India and the European Union aimed at concluding negotiations on a free trade agreement (ALE) by the end of the year, Sweden positions India-Ele Ale as “anchor” for bilateral links in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment. A recent visit to Swedish officials has explored partnerships in all sectors – renewable energies to pharmaceutical products – for a four -day trip to India. In an exclusive interview with Pushpita Dey,, Sofia HögmanCommercial commissioner in Sweden in India, explained how Sweden plans to strengthen its partnership with India. Edited extracts:
For the European Union Ale with India, negotiations take place. So, what type of objective does Sweden set after the Indian-EU FTA?
I think the story between India and Sweden is very long. It dates back to 1903 when Ericsson was created for the first time here in India. Regarding foreign trade agreements and the role we play as a trade council, we were very happy to welcome the Minister (Piyush) Goyal during his visit to Sweden in June of this year, where the discussions were of course centered on the ALE negotiations. We hope that these negotiations will end by the end of this year. The EU-Indian FTA proposal was made almost a decade ago, and now we are witnessing the conclusion.
As a partner close to India in these negotiations, what do you think were the main collage points? What suggestions did you make to overcome these challenges?
When we talk about trade between Sweden and India, there are many complementary forces between our two countries. So we hope this agreement
will occur this year. We are also happy that, after a few months of negotiations in standby, the talks resume. This gives us reasons to remain optimistic.
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