Pushing forward the proposed India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) will be a priority for Sweden in its six-month presidency of the EU beginning January 1, 2023, and the country is hopeful that the pact can be concluded by the next presidency (between July 1-December 31 2023), Johan Forssell, Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, has said.

“The India-EU FTA is a priority for us during our presidency. We will do our best to be honest brokers. This is based on mutual trust. You cannot have it as `my way or the highway’. You have to see what the obstacles are and have an open discussion on that,” Forssell said talking to media representatives at an interaction on Friday.

On India continuing to source oil from Russia, Forssell said that it was India’s decision to make based on its domestic politics. “Of course, the Russia-Ukraine war has affected Europe (countries) in many ways, especially regarding their energy situations. But every country must make their own decisions. I agree with PM Modi that this is not a time for war. Hopefully we will be out of it soon. There are no winners here,” he said.

The Swedish Minister is in India on an official two-day visit and met Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant. He is accompanied by a business delegation comprising CEOs and Chairs of top Swedish companies such as SAAB, Ericsson, AstraZeneca, Perstorp, SEB Bank and Getinge. “They (CEOs and Chairs) represent the best of Sweden. It says something about the importance of India,” he said.

Priority areas

The priority areas for cooperation between India and Sweden discussed in the meetings include green transition, infrastructure, tech industry, health, security and defence.

On Swedish Defence production company Saab’s decision to set up a manufacturing facility for the shoulder launched weapon system Carl-Gustaf in India, Forssell said there were more complex systems that could also be of interest to India.

“Sweden has a long tradition of strong defence industry. We are very good at producing high quality assets at reasonable price. We hope that combination is also useful for India. For example, we have a fantastic fighter jet programme. We can happily assist India there the best that we can,” he added.

Pointing out that India and the EU represented a huge population, and it was a herculean task to balance all interests, Forssell indicated that attempts could be made to conclude the FTA at least in the second half of 2023. “I talked to Minister Goyal. We have agreed to continue the discussion. To be honest it may be difficult to conclude the negotiations during Swedish presidency (January 1-June 30 2023…. But we will at least try to give it a push forward perhaps for the next presidency,” he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW