To celebrate 75 years of bilateral relations between Sweden and India, the Consulate General of Sweden in Mumbai, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) have jointly organised an exhibition of Swedish innovations and inventions.
The exhibition, from March 11 to 18, will be held on the stretch outside Alfa Laval to Sandvik in Dapodi, which is fondly called Svea Nagar or Indo-Swedish Avenue. It will be inaugurated on March 11 by Swedish State Secretary of Trade Håkan Jevrell and PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh, in the presence of Consul General Anna Lekvall, Ambassador Jan Thesleff and several high-ranking Swedish business leaders.
“Diplomatic relations between Sweden and India were established in 1948, a year after India became independent. However, business relations between the two nations date back even further. In 1957, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Swedish counterpart Tage Erlander agreed that Sweden and India had much in common and would profit from collaboration. The large area allocated to Swedish companies in Pune was a strategically good location considering the proximity to India’s commercial centre in Mumbai. In the 1960-70s, Pune became an important industrial hub, where Swedish companies like Alfa Laval, Tetra Pak, Sandvik and Atlas Copco were established,” a press release from Swedish consulate stated.
“Since then, Pune has been a major hub of Swedish companies in India. Most of the 108 Swedish companies in Maharashtra havs a presence in Pune, and about 36 are headquartered in the city, with a broad range of sectors in thir ambit, including manufacturing, information and communications technology, services, sales and distribution. It’s only natural and befitting then that the Sweden-India jubilee celebrations commence in the city,” the release added.