Press Releases

Joint Action Plan 2026-2030 for the implementation of the India-Sweden Strategic Partnership

May 17, 2026

In establishing a Strategic Partnership at the Gothenburg Summit on 17 May 2026, the Honourable Prime Ministers of India and Sweden reaffirmed their commitment to work closely together as trusted partners in shaping a resilient, sustainable, innovative, safe and prosperous future together.

The Strategic Partnership includes, but is not limited to, the principal areas and initiatives set out in the following four pillars of this Joint Action Plan.

Pillar 1: Strategic Dialogue for Stability and Security

Sweden and India will further enhance political, defence and security cooperation to promote peace, security, stability, resilience and mutual prosperity through strengthened dialogue and coordination at all relevant levels, including through:

i. Exchanges between the National Security Council Secretariat of India and the Office of the National Security Advisor of Sweden on issues of mutual interest;

ii. Conducting regular cyber policy dialogues between India and Sweden;

iii. Enhanced cooperation to counter violent radicalisation and violent extremism conducive to terrorism, combat financing of terrorism, promote internationally agreed anti-money laundering standards, prevent exploitation of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, and tackle terrorist recruitment, including through the India-EU Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism;

iv. Enhancing dialogue on defence related matters, including at the Ministerial level;

v. Exploring possibilities for cooperation on defence innovation connected to the work in the Joint Working Group on Defence;

vi. Encouraging further Swedish investment in defence production in India’s defence corridors, taking note of the already ongoing Swedish investments to this end;

vii. Facilitating enhanced engagement between national defence colleges and other relevant strategic institutions;

viii. Supporting new and existing track 1.5 initiatives, such as the India Nordic Dialogue, the India Trilateral Forum (ITF), the Project for Nordic India Relations, and dialogue with the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM);

ix. Promoting parliamentary exchange to deepen cooperation on democracy issues, noting with appreciation the recently formed India-Nordic Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Lok Sabha, and the Friendship Group for India in the Swedish Riksdag.

Pillar 2: A Next-Generation Economic Partnership

India and Sweden will strive towards unlocking the full potential of bilateral trade and investment and doubling the bilateral economic exchange within five years, including through:

i. Holding of a Bilateral Trade and Investment Summit in India in 2027 "India–Sweden: Stronger Together – towards 2047”;

ii. Advancing the "Make in India” and "Made with Sweden” initiatives to strengthen co-creation and sustainable co-production in India;

iii. Strengthening the bilateral Trade Facilitation Mechanism/Fast track mechanism encompassing Government-to-Government (G2G) and Business-to-Government (B2G) exchanges;

iv. Pursuing regular dialogue on Intellectual Property Rights by the Swedish Intellectual Property Office (PRV) and the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks, Department of Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade, India to promote exchange of best practices, knowledge and experience sharing, in line with the MoU of 2017;

v. Enhancing joint sustainable infrastructure development, including green ports, airports and digital infrastructure including data centres;

vi. Promoting connectivity and re-establishment of direct and regular air links between Sweden and India to further strengthen trade, investment, tourism, business mobility and people‑to‑people exchanges;

vii. Tasking relevant agencies to develop a bilateral SME- and Start-up platform, in close coordination with private businesses.

Pillar 3: Emerging Technologies and Trusted Connectivity

India and Sweden will work together to promote trusted, secure, and innovation-driven digital transformation, including by shaping global standards, through:

i. Launching an upgraded Joint Innovation Partnership 2.0 and establishing a virtual India-Sweden Joint Science and Technology Centre (ISJSTC) with a strengthened focus on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, 6G, quantum computing, sustainable mining, sustainable transports, critical minerals, space and geospatial research, and life sciences. The Joint Innovation Partnership 2.0 will furthermore build on and strengthen existing cooperation on renewable energy, battery and energy storage, energy transmission and smart grid technologies, smart cities, resilient water systems, sustainable mining, Industry 4.0/5.0 including sustainable industry and circular economy and also any other scientific areas or programs of mutual interest;

ii. Connecting the AI ecosystems of India and Sweden to form an AI partnership for the future, leveraging the successful AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February 2026 and jointly developing the Sweden–India Technology and Artificial Intelligence Corridor (SITAC) between Business Sweden and India AI Mission;

iii. Enhancing the longstanding collaboration on emerging, secure and trusted digital infrastructure, including 5G rollout, 6G development and quantum communications, through renewed focus on strategic cooperation projects and collaboration on research, standards, and innovation ecosystems;

iv. Increasing the collaboration within the MoU on Science and Technology under the bilateral Joint Committee for Science and Technology;

v. Pursuing enhanced space cooperation with a focus on AI enabled applications, satellite communications services and advanced data use by bringing together companies and research institutions.

Pillar 4: Shaping Tomorrow Together – People, Planet and Resilience


India and Sweden are committed to building a green, inclusive, healthy and resilient future through industrial transformation, innovation-driven opportunities, cooperation on health and life sciences, advancement of strategic talent attraction and the active promotion of people-to-people exchanges, including by:

i. Enabling a just and equitable, global industry transition through the joint leadership of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT);

ii. Expanding the Sweden-India Industry Transition Partnership under LeadIT by developing green steel collaboration with enhanced participation of both private and public actors paving the way for innovation and diffusion of new clean technologies, competitiveness, increased trade, and the strengthening of resilience and the emergence of green value chains;

iii. Building on the respective Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement to further promote low-carbon emission development pathways, and build prosperous and climate resilient economies;

iv. Scaling and commercialising relevant projects under the ITP and identifying a pipeline of future projects in the steel, cement and transport sectors, following the blueprint from 2025;

v. Developing cooperation and promoting technology transfer in cleantech, including fossil-free and energy efficient solutions, under the India-Sweden Innovations Accelerator, and pursuing green energy solutions jointly within the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Mission LiFE;

vi. Promoting smart cities, circular economy solutions, and sustainable urban development;

vii. Promoting cooperation in source sustainability over the whole water cycle, rural and urban drinking water quality monitoring, water treatment technologies, capacity building, community participation, and climate-resilient drinking water infrastructure, recognising the importance of resilient and sustainable drinking water supply systems;

viii. Promoting collaboration in advanced mining and mineral processing technologies to facilitate efficient extraction from low-grade and complex critical mineral deposits;

ix. Advancing innovative healthcare solutions, including AI for health, and drug development, including through research collaboration and industrial partnerships;

x. Promoting increased bilateral talent attraction of students, PhD students, and researchers, including through initiatives such as the Study in Sweden programme;

xi. Exploring further measures to facilitate the recruitment of highly skilled labour and professional experts between India and Sweden, such as through the Work in Sweden programme;

xii. Initiating the "Tagore-Sweden Lecture Series”, to commemorate the year 2026 as the centenary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's visit to Sweden, as a platform to further strengthen India-Sweden cultural and intellectual engagement.

Gothenburg
May 17, 2026