'Strong commitment from Sweden side to further invest in India'

WITH India and the European Union aiming to conclude negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of the year, Sweden is positioning the India-EU FTA as the “anchor” for bilateral ties in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment. A recent visit by Swedish officials explored partnerships across sectors-from renewable energy to pharmaceuticals-during a four-day trip to India. In an interview with Pushpita Dey, Sofia Högman, Trade Commissioner of Sweden to India, spoke about how Sweden plans to strengthen its partnership with India. Edited excerpts:

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For EU FTA with India, negotiations are going on. What sort of target has Sweden set for itself after India-EU FTA? The history between India and Sweden is very long.

It goes back to 1903 when Ericsson was first established in India. With regard to foreign trade agreements and role we play as Trade Council, we were happy to welcome minister (Piyush) Goyal during his visit to Sweden in June this year, where of course the talks centred around FTA negotiations. We are hopeful these negotiations will conclude by the end of this year. The EU-India FTA proposal was made a decade ago, and now we are seeing it nearing conclusion.

As a close partner of India in these negotiations, what, in your view, were the key sticking points? What suggestions did you make to overcome those challenges?