SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Seminar on ”The Indian train is speeding ahead…”

Arranged by the Sweden-India Business Council, SIBC, and the Swedish Trade Council, on Thursday 4 March 2004, at Näringslivets hus, Storgatan 19, Stockholm.

There was about 80 participants, most of them from private Swedish companies and banks, but also from the Swedish Trade council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of India. As far as I could see there were no representatives from Sida.
The meeting began with a presentation by Eva Walder-Brundin from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (head of the Asia and Oceania division) about the Swedish Government’s view on the development in India. India is seen as very dynamic in economic terms and the peace process with Pakistan gives hope for the future.
In order to promote Swedish business interests, the Ministry is planning a broad set of activities:

∑ dialogue with India on security issues
∑ promote trade and investments
∑ co-operate with India in the WTO process
∑ promote academic exchange
∑ promote cultural exchange

After this, there was a number of presentations about the Indian economy, taxation, customs tariffs, and financial transactions. There was also thought provoking ideas about how to do business in India, by Mr. Amiya Bhattacharyya, Techno Transfer International Ltd. Experienced Swedish companies can help newcomers to do their homework before entering the market. Indian business is not so much different from Swedish, but personal relations play a much greater role.

Staffan Lindberg from SASNET presented the basic ideas and work within SASNET, which should be seen a general resource base for all Swedes interested in interacting with South Asia.

The final part of the seminar was about two recent success stories in India: Ericsson and Telelogics AB.

Report by Staffan Lindberg