King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will embark on six-day long state visit to India. They will stay in India from December 1 to 6. President Ram Nath Kovind invited them to visit India. Importantly, it will be their third visit to India. Earlier, the Swedish king visited India in 1993 and 2005.
Ministry of External Affairs in a statement mentioned that the king will have meetings with President Kovind. Along with that, he will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minster Narendra Modi. He will also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to discuss on various bilateral and multilateral issues of mutual interest. Both the country will also sign formal documents to strengthen their bilateral relations.
The statement reads, “His Majesty will lead a high-level business delegation for engagements with Indian counterparts.” Furthermore, “Several documents on furthering bilateral engagement are likely to be signed,” the ministry added.
Beside these official programmes in New Delhi, the royal couple will also visit Mumbai and Uttarakhand. In 2018, India-Sweden bilateral trade constitute a turnover of USD 3.37 billion. Since 2000, their cumulative investments constitute of about USD 2.5 billion.
Importantly, both India and Sweden share cordial ties. Both the countries share their deeps believe in the principles of democracy and transparency. The countries give due importance to right of freedom and rule of law. All these factors contribute to the cordial and harmonious relations between the countries.
The Ministry of External affairs said in a statement that “Bilateral relations between India and Sweden are friendly and based on principles of democracy and transparency, right to freedom, and rule of law. Furthermore, “Regular interactions in political, business, scientific and academic spheres have provided dynamism to our bilateral ties,” MEA said.
