Shri Navtej Sama (Secretary West): I hope you are having a good visit so far. It has been a very very packed programme for the honorable president since his arrival yesterday. As you know… you covered the arrival, the arrival was straight from the airport with the ceremonies at the palace with His Majesty the King and the Queen and then he had a private conversation with Their Majesties. This is a tradition that they follow with the guests on a state visit so they get to talk more about general, personal and also you know as they relate to each other on a more informal level and then of course in the evening thereafter there was the Indian community function at which you were all present, so that's all covered. This morning we started with the visit to the speaker in the parliament, with Urban Ahlin – I will give you spellings and all if anybody needs them later – who is the speaker and with him he had a delegation of Members of Parliament from different parties. So I have the details here of who all were present with him, so we will give this, we will give this to you.
The President you know being such a parliamentarian of such long-standing, always takes great joy in visiting other parliaments and here also he did a tour of the House of Deputies and then after went in for the meeting. At the speaker’s meeting, the main discussions, they covered the review of bilateral relations in terms of high level visits, in terms of parliamentary exchanges which have also been happening between the two countries including visits by our speaker. Then the President appreciated the fact that the government had immediately after coming into power formed an India-Swedish friendship group in the parliament and the speaker clarified that yes this had been done but this was not for the first time, this group has also existed earlier and basically it shows the interest in India as a parliamentary democracy in the Swedish parliament. There was a very good discussion on the role of parliament in democracies today and the President explained how a parliament is elected and how our electoral process covering 800 million people takes place and he also mentioned some of the interesting directions that the parliament can take in supervising the executive.
In terms of bilateral relations they discussed the trade and investment situation so far and what it could be now given the new programs of the Indian government including Make in India, Digital India so the President talked of the 3 Ds, the demographic dividend of India which is increasingly young population in the work force, Digital India and democratic growth. So all these found good resonance on the Swedish side. They also – President also talked – said that you know he was very keen to learn how Sweden had combined such high development with protection of the environment. So in terms of green growth – and he also talked of the fact that India needed 8 to 9% growth over a sustainable period to bring its population out of poverty completely.
The other issues that were discussed were climate change in which the President mentioned the need for developing countries to have access to green technologies and also to have the resources. So it was a shared – since this was a shared problem but the responsibilities were differentiated. We talked of sustainable cities, smart cities, education and there was a good discussion on the position of women and women empowerment and the various programs being undertaken for that, particularly the President mentioned about how one-third of the seats are reserved for local self-government bodies in India for women and he also talked of other sociological processes which included education and economic empowerment.
The discussion on international regional relations was very productive. The Swedish side categorically expressed support for India to become a member of the MTCR, Missile Technology Control Regime which is one of the four export control regimes that we have expressed our intention to become members of. So this is something which was appreciated from our side and this is something which is a very positive move which has been made by the Swedish side during this visit.
The President talked about UN Security Council reforms and the need to make the Security Council reflect contemporary realities particularly given the fact that we will be coming up to the 70th anniversary of the UNGA this year. The Swedish side also shared their view that the UN Security Council needed to be reformed and the Prime Minister said that when it is enlarged it is natural that India will be one of the permanent members. So this is also a recognition of India’s case and India’s credentials to be the UN Security Council member. The Swedish side that side (3.45) given India’s size and standing it's very important and that India is one of the natural new permanent members in an expanded Security Council, and said it is important to have different voices in the Security Council given the complicated scenarios that the world is facing.
Besides this they also talked of the possibilities of an India-EU summit later this year, something which is under consideration at the moment.
We are going to be joined by the Ambassador. Ambassadors have come, please – ambassadors here so she can add to some things that I may have missed out.
I think both these MTCR and the UNSC were the important points in the regional discussion. Yes there's a third point. It's also been decided that India and Sweden will restart their strategic dialogue at the level of national security advises. Their national security advisor had recently visited India and the first meeting of the new cycle of dialogue is expected in the next few months. So that's an important aspect to be covered.
There's also the visit of the Swedish Defence Minister to India on June 10 and 11 so he would be going there. This also came up in discussions and was welcomed. Immediately after the meeting with the Prime Minister there was a signing ceremony and I think some of you were there. You've already got the list of agreements. Has this been given? Okay, so I won't go into the details except to say that six of these agreements were signed in the presence of the President as well as the Prime Minister by various ministers of the Swedish side and our ambassador from the Indian side. There were also 15 agreements have been signed, agreements and MOUs have been signed on the educational side and the 16th one has been signed between two think tanks, SIPRI from the Swedish side and USI, United Services Institute from the Indian side. I also believe there is an agreement with CII and FICCI with Business Sweden – FICCI and CII have signed with Business Sweden.
After the signing of the agreements there was a lunch, posted at the City Hall by the Mayor of Stockholm and again Ms. Karin Wanngard – I'll give you the spellings from the program – and before the lunch there was a presentation by the Director of Environment and Health Administration of the city on sustainable Stockholm, essentially how Stockholm has come up to be the city it is and he also foreshadowed the visit this afternoon to Hammarby Waterfront which is the smart city which the President will be visiting.
The lunch was very ceremonial affair at the historic city hall and there The Majesties were present along with the Crown Princess and other members of the royal family and also senior members of the government.
Interesting bit is that 2010 Stockholm was called the First Green Capital given the answered of First Green Capital of Europe – that's what we learned during the presentation. So I think I basically covered all that and maybe ambassador would like to add something.
Banashri Bose Harrison (Ambassador of India to Sweden): I think just being the person based in Stockholm I can just add that this is a visit which has been really awaited and it was a departure from normal protocol that the King issued the invitation to our President even before dates were fixed. The normal practice is that everything is set and then the invitation is issued, when it just reflects that they wanted to give an impetus to the process of fixing of dates that they wrote the invitation and sent it to us even before the dates were fixed. Since then of course it has taken some time due to various reasons but the fact that the entire cabinet was present at the greeting ceremony and then today in the talks six or seven important ministers were there and the foreign minister is herself going with the Rastrapatiji for the talk in Uppsala. I think all of this makes it quite evident that for Sweden, for Swedish government this visit is probably – they see it as one of the highlights of their foreign exchanges. I should add that as a forerunner to the visit we had organized a very successful event called Namaste Stockholm which had an unprecedented 10,000 to 15,000 people who were in Kungsträdgården, our Minister of Women and Child Development was the guest of honor to prepare for the visit of the President. And again the popular participation in that event is an indication of how much Sweden was waiting for President. And then so far as Navtej would have briefed you it has gone swimmingly if I can use a water related phrase because we are in a city made of water, and the focus has been very much on positive progress in the area of economics by focusing on the areas where there is a complementarity where there is a fit of our priorities and their strength but also on political side as Navtej highlighted. Thank you.
Question: Aapne dekha ki bich me discussion hua thaa jaise ki aapne bola ki first green capital Stockholm hai kaaphi clean energy tak ko lekar baat hui to kaya jo ambulen sing ho raha hai to kaya kisi media ko kekar key a kisi city ko lekar ke baat hui ki yaha ke sarkar ne baat rakha ki hum india me jakar ke kisi city ko aise hi bana sakte hai clean kar sakte hai saaf sar sakte hai .
Secretary (West): Ye ek specific city ke bare main baat nahi hui kyunki ek smart city main kai tarah ki technology ka prayog hoga. To basically ye idea hai ki jab matching ho sweedish companies wahan aake jaroori nahi sirf ek city main, kai cities main jaise koi water treatment plant laga rahe hain ya clean clean heating plant laga rahe hain to jaroori nahi ki ek hi city main ho. Basically cooperation is disha main badhana hai ye tai hua.
Banashri Bose Harrison (Ambassador of India to Sweden): Aur gift main jo aap jaante hain Gujarat main jo city pehli humari ban rahi hai usmain do Swedish companiyon ka bahut bada already yogdaan hai Ericsson wahan par communications main involved hai aur dusri ek aur company hai MBAC jo waste ka jo management hai usmain wo involved hai. To aisa nahi hai ki Swedish companiyan abhi present nahi hain lekin jis tarike se rashtrapatiji ke aane ka jo bahut acha asar padega ki wo un logon main aapas me yogdaan karke ek saath shayad ek sweedish city banake jisse ki unka naam ho sake is taraf shayad koi pragati dekh sakein.
Question: You just said that today there is an eminent (inaudible) on restarting the strategic dialogue again. When it was called off and kyun band hua tha ye?
Secretary (West): It wasn't called off. 2011 was the last one. Then it has just been a question of finding time, new governments came into power, in both countries there were elections. So then this is you know restarting in a way, not that there was any dramatic breakdown but it is a question of finding the new NSA’s have been appointed on both sides and thereafter this takes place.
Question: sir jaisa apne kaha ki Sweden ke Defence Minister bhi aa rahe hain stategic partner banne ka kisi particular defence ke spectrum main kuch aisi baat hui ki Sweden ki government …….(inaudible) kis tarike ka collaboration ho sakta hai?
Secretary (West): Nahi jabhi jabhi ye to jab wahan jaayenge wahan baatchit hogi. Hamare paas ek MOU hai defence cooperation ka jismain kai meetings ho chuki hain so usmain continuity rahegi ya unke defence minister jaayenge to wahan baat hogi abhi yahan to detail main baat nahi hui lekin main ye keh sakta hoon k ab humari jo guidelines hain Foreign Direct Investment ki wo badal gayi hain. To isliye ismain ab ab kya kya ismain possibilities hain under the new guidelines wo humein dekhna hoga. Main abhi kisi specific project ke bare main abhi nahi keh sakte. Thik hai
Banashri Bose Harrison (Ambassador of India to Sweden): ishme ye or jod sakti hoon ki sirf raksha ke chetra main hi nahi lekin baki kai chetron main jinme inki companiyon ki ek strength hai ye humare make in india programme main bahut inka utsah hai ushme bhag lene ka so raksha chetra main bhi yahi dekhenge ki ushme agar koi mokka hua jisme vo bana sakein bharat main vo jaroor banana chahenge lekin kai aur chetron main bhi hai to ye jo raksha mantra ja rahe hai uska ek ye hum ishe ek outcome ki aasha rakh sakte hain ki sayad unki companiyan identify kar sakein ki kis chetra main vo bana sakti hain.
Question: sir jo export import ka jo imbalance hai usko leke kya Indian side se kuch aisa kuch initiative hua ki udhar humlog kuch accha kar sakein Sweden ke muqable …..
Secretary (West): abhi dekhiye kitni badi delegetions yahan FICCI, ASSOCHM, CII se aayi hui hain to basically ye isiliye aayi hui hain ki ye export import karein toh every side wants to sell it products so ye balance to jahan baithta hai jahan ye economic needle rukti hain so basically ye isme koi khas intervention sarkaron ka nahi hota hai to achieve this balance except to provide a platform for business to find their partners. And I think this visit is marked by the very very significant number – I think it is about 65. 65 people who have come from India and are discussing different aspects of business. I am sure this will give an impetus to trade.
Banashri Bose Harrison (Ambassador of India to Sweden): Aur kyoki main abhi subah maine us delegation se baat kari thi main aapko ye batana chahungi delegation ke kisi ke kisi member ko business delegation ke member ko ish bare main chinta nahi kyun kyonki Sweden se jo unka import hota hai vo sab high value technology imports jisse ki unki production ko fayda hota hai. so ish tarike se vo nahi sochte hain ki ye Sweden se import ko hum kaise balance karein us se unko fayda hota hai to balance kartein hain lekin obviously humari ye kosish hai ki humari taraf se bhi jo exports hain unki value kum ye hai isiliye kyunki abhi jaydatar log traditional exports hi kar pate hai to jab sath hum log kaam karenge to humari bhi technology aur hogi to usko bhi jaroor……(in audiable) ushme hum jaroor dekh payenge or ye humari business jarror chahti hai or vo bhi jaisa inhone kaha ishka ek outcome hai jiski hum aasha kar hain.
Secretary (West): We must thank you.