India and Sweden announced a five-year roadmap covering trade, defence, AI, space, startups, mobility and sustainability during Modi’s Gothenburg visit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during meetings in Gothenburg. (Photo: PMO/YouTube/X)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday made a strong pitch to Europe’s leading industrial houses to expand their India plans, telling top corporate executives in Sweden that India and Europe were now standing at a “new turning point” in their relationship.
The message came during a packed business and diplomatic leg of PM Modi’s Sweden visit, where India and Sweden also elevated their bilateral ties to a Strategic Partnership and announced a target to double trade and investment within five years.
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Addressing the European Round Table for Industry in Gothenburg, PM Modi said India-Europe ties were not limited to trade figures alone, but were rooted in “common values, democracy and diversity”. The event was attended by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and senior leaders from major European companies.
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The Prime Minister identified five broad areas for deeper cooperation: infrastructure and mobility, telecom and digital infrastructure, green transition and clean energy, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, and healthcare and life sciences.
Representatives from companies including Volvo Group, Maersk, Nestle, ASML, Vodafone, SAP, Capgemini, Shell, Airbus, AstraZeneca, Roche, Ericsson, Nokia, Orange, and Unilever were present at the roundtable.
PM Modi urged European companies to make fresh commitments to India over the next five years, citing the country’s growth, scale, startup ecosystem, digital infrastructure, and manufacturing push.
“India has talent, scale, demand and stability,” he said, adding that the government had made ease of doing business a part of governance.
The Prime Minister referred to reforms such as GST, corporate tax reductions, Production Linked Incentive schemes, insolvency reforms, FDI liberalisation, and reduced regulatory compliance as part of India’s pitch to global investors.
He also proposed an annual India-Europe CEO Roundtable, sector-specific working groups, an India Desk or Action Group at the ERT and an institutional system to review major projects.
“The Indian government will help you to complete all these projects in a timely manner,” Modi said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the India-EU Free Trade Agreement as the “mother of all deals” and said both sides were working to apply it this year.
She said the trade pact opened the door, while an investment agreement would help both sides walk through it. She also referred to a shared market of over two billion people and nearly one-fourth of global GDP.
PM Modi, responding to her remarks on X, said he fully agreed on the strong potential of India-Europe ties, especially after the India-EU FTA.
Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson said the free trade agreement could create 23,000 jobs in Sweden, including over 6,000 in the Gothenburg region.
In a separate joint statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs, India and Sweden agreed to elevate their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership.
The partnership will rest on four pillars: emerging technologies and trusted connectivity, next-generation economic partnership, strategic dialogue for stability and security, and people, planet and resilience.
Both sides also endorsed an upgraded Joint Action Plan for 2026-2030.
The two Prime Ministers agreed to strengthen political, diplomatic and defence-level dialogue, including exchanges between their National Security Advisors.
They also announced a shared goal to double bilateral economic exchange, covering trade and investment, within five years through initiatives such as “Make in India” and “Made with Sweden”.
India and Sweden agreed to launch Joint Innovation Partnership 2.0 and establish an India-Sweden Joint Science and Technology Centre.
The two countries will also strengthen cooperation through the Sweden-India Technology and Artificial Intelligence Corridor, covering technology, AI, innovation and digital transformation.
The leaders welcomed cooperation between ISRO and the Swedish Institute for Space Physics on the Indian Venus Orbiter Mission.
The two sides also agreed to promote student and researcher mobility, skilled labour movement and explore the possibility of direct and regular air links between India and Sweden.
The joint statement said both leaders strongly condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all forms, including cross-border terrorism, and referred to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025.
They called for dismantling terror infrastructure and safe havens, and reiterated the need to disrupt terror financing channels, including at the UN and FATF.
Sweden also reiterated its support for India’s permanent membership in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council.
PM Modi thanked Kristersson and the people of Sweden for their hospitality and invited the Swedish Prime Minister to visit India.
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