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New Delhi: Eyeing the $20-billion defence market in India, Swedish trade minister Ewa Björling is leading a high-level defence delegation to participate in a seminar on India-Sweden defence partnership on “Forging Alliances”. Minister of state for defence MM Pallam Raju and Ewa Björling will address the seminar, jointly organised by the embassy of Sweden and Ficci, on November 5.
Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra said, “Ficci is hosting this seminar at an opportune time when Indian and Swedish businesses have started coming together in partnerships that offer great promise. In Sweden, India has a trustworthy collaborator with independent access to proven, reliable, future generation technology and research.” With large offset provisions in the Defence Procurement Policy, the cooperation between private industry in India and Swedish firms with a long history of excellence in defence technology now seems indispensable.
The seminar will bring together officials from both the countries, along with members of the armed forces and Indian and Swedish companies in defence, while focusing on defence cooperation through real technology transfer and the challenges to building technologies of the future. Swedish companies Kockums, BAE Sweden, SAAB, Volvo/Eicher and Ericsson will make presentations on different dimensions of technology and industrial cooperation.
Swedish ambassador to India, Lars-Olof Lindgren, said, “ Sweden and India’s defence collaboration has reached a critical phase where we hope to layer India’s trust in the technological superiority of Swedish weapon systems with a deeper appreciation of the strategic role that Sweden can play in shaping the future of India’s defence technology and industry. The key play for India, in its multi-billion dollar defence acquisition budget, is to ensure that the current purchases are an investment in building defence capabilities in the country.”
He also added, “Swedish companies have proven that they excel in transferring technology in a manner that involves the recipient of the country in the development stage, thereby transferring not merely patents but true intellectual capital. We hope this dialogue will enable all parties to have a better appreciation of the seminal difference that Swedish partnership can make.”
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