Headlines
Mukherjee leaves on Sunday for five-day visit to Sweden, Belarus
New Delhi, May 30
President Pranab Mukherjee
leaves on Sunday for a five-day state visit to Sweden and Belarus, in
the first presidential visit to both countries.
The visit is set
to see bolstering of bilateral ties as well as a push to the
government's initiatives like Make in India, Swachh Bharat and Skill
India.
The president will be in Sweden from May 31 to June 2, and in Belarus on June 2-4.
In
Sweden, his host will be King Carl XVI Gustaf who has been the ruling
monarch of Sweden for 42 years. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a
parliamentary democracy.
Mukherjee will be accompanied by
Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir,
parliamentarians Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashwani Kumar, who are members of
the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively.
He will also be
accompanied by about seven vice chancellors and directors of leading
Indian universities, while over 60 Indian business leaders will be
travelling alongside separately. A business forum will also be held with
both countries.
Sweden has around 9,000 people of Indian origin
and another 9,000 who are there as professionals, IT professionals, or
working in the hospitality industry.
Mukherjee will be the first ever head of state to visit Sweden.
Besides
meeting the king and queen of Sweden, Mukherjee will also meet Prime
Minister Stefan Lofven, the speaker of the Swedish parliament, and the
Leader of Opposition Anna Kinberg Batra. A state banquet will also be
held in his honour.
On June 2, Mukherjee will visit Karolinska
Institute, a leading institute of medicine and related studies, and also
visit the Uppsala University, which is one of the oldest European
universities.
He will also visit a Swedish smart city and be briefed on how it works in different aspects of civic governance.
The India-Sweden bilateral trade is about $2.5 billion.
Around
170 Swedish companies, largely multinational corporations, are active
in India while 50 Indian companies are working out of Sweden.
Sweden
is the 12th largest contributor of FDI to India. Indian companies have
invested up to $800 million in Sweden. India is the third largest trade
partner after China and Japan in Asia for Sweden.
The visit is
likely to see many agreements being inked, including in the field of
education, business and health. Some of the areas could be micro, small
and medium industries, polar research.
Sweden supported India's
application for becoming Observer to the Arctic Council, said Navtej
Sarna, secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry.
In
Belarus, Mukherjee will hold talks with President Alexander Lukashenko
in both restricted and delegation-level formats. There will be a banquet
luncheon.
Mukherjee will plant a tree in the Ally of the Guests
of Honour and the Place of Independence, and place a wreath at the
Victory Monument.
Both the presidents will address a joint
business conference on June 4. There will be a formal launching of the
Grodno-II Power Project, which has been refurbished by BHEL on a line of
credit of $55 million from India.
There will be MoUs inked
between PSUs as well as at a government level covering different areas
like textiles, power and education.
Mukherjee will unveil a bust
of Mahatma Gandhi at Belarus State University, and will be honoured with
a professor of honoris causa degree by the university.
He will also meet Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov and other leaders.
There
is large scope for joint ventures between Belarus and India under the
Make in India programme in terms of heavy transportation vehicles,
tractors, agricultural machinery and of defence, Sarna said at a
briefing earlier.
Bilateral trade is at $400 million. Belarus is
India's main supplier of potash. India's exports are largely
concentrated on pharmaceutical issues.
India has set up a Digital Learning Centre in Belarus at a cost of Rs.5 crore.
"Belarus
has supported India on the UN Security Council issue as well as in the
Nuclear Supplier Group issue. And Belarus incidentally is the only
European country which is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement," he
said.