Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to arrive in India today

New Delhi: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven will be on a two-day visit to India this month to participate in the ‘Make in India Week’ here and will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bilateral dialogue.

Lofven leads a high-level delegation comprising State Secretaries, senior officials from the Swedish government, heads of agencies and industry leaders from Sweden to participate in the ‘Make in India Week’, where Sweden has the largest country pavilion with participation from 18 Swedish companies across all sectors, a release said today.

He will be visiting the country from February 13-14. Lofven will inaugurate the Swedish Pavilion along with Modi, after which he will deliver the keynote address at the ‘Sweden Seminar’ on smart manufacturing, along with a senior representative from the Indian side. He will also participate in the Sweden India CEO Round Table together with Swedish and Indian industry leaders. Lofven will later visit Pune which is a hub for Swedish companies since the 1960s.

Swedish companies’ operations in Pune date back to 1957, when a large area of land was allocated to those firms in that city, which was strategically a good location considering the proximity to Mumbai. In Pune, he will visit the facilities of two Swedish majors – Tetra Pak and Ericsson. The Tetra Pak plant in Chakan, Pune is a state-of-the-art Swedish example with a modern footprint based on green technology which produces for the Indian market. The Ericsson plant will serve as an export hub for the company. Both are examples of how Sweden makes in India, the release said.

Over 1,000 business delegates from 60 countries, 2,500 domestic delegates, 192 companies and four heads of state are expected at the maiden MII week which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on February 13.