Swedish Royal Couple to visit India to promote bilateral cooperation, innovation partnership

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will pay a five-day state visit to India from December 2 with an aim to promote bilateral cooperation within the framework of Joint Action Plan, the Swedish embassy in New Delhi said on Thursday.

The visit, which has come at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind, affirms Sweden's commitment to be a key partner for India in its rapid development, and in efforts to tackle common challenges in areas such as the climate change, infrastructure, research and health, the embassy said in a statement.

"The aim of the State Visit is further to strengthen the good relations between Sweden and India, and to promote Swedish-Indian cooperation, including within the frameworks of the Joint Action Plan, the Innovation Partnership and existing memoranda of understanding," the statement read.

During the visit, the Royal couple will meet President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, besides attending the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Innovation Policy.

"The Royal couple will attend the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Innovation Policy, visit the Versova Beach Cleng activity, visit Doorstep School that provides education for children who are first-generation school-goers and attend the Tekla Workshop and Dialogue which aims at correcting the underrepresentation of girls and women in technology. They will then proceed to Uttarakhand to visit the Ganges," the statement read.

This will be King Gustaf's third visit to India. Several documents on furthering bilateral engagement are likely to be signed during the visit, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

India and Sweden had a bilateral trade turnover of USD 3.37 billion in 2018 and cumulative investments of about USD 2.5 billion since 2000

Bilateral relations between India and Sweden are friendly and based on principles of democracy and transparency, right to freedom, and rule of law. Regular interactions in political, business, scientific and academic spheres have provided dynamism to our bilateral ties.

( With inputs from ANI )