Prime Minister Modi congratulates Ulf Kristersson on becoming Prime Minister of Sweden
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Ulf Kristersson on his election as Sweden’s next prime minister on Wednesday. He expressed his joy at the opportunity to work closely with his Swedish counterpart to further strengthen the multifaceted partnership between the two countries.
On Monday, Sweden’s Riksdag elected Kristersson, the conservative Moderate party leader, as prime minister at the head of a coalition supported by a once radical right-wing party.
”Congratulations to HE Mr. Ulf Kristersson on the election as the next prime minister in Sweden. I look forward to working closely together to further strengthen our multi-faceted partnership,” Modi said in a tweet.
Mr. Kristersson, 59, was elected with 176-173 votes. On Tuesday, he is expected to present his government. Despite his coalition of three parties lacking a majority, prime ministers in Sweden are allowed to govern as long as there is no parliamentary majority against them.
His party Liberals and Christian Democrats make up Kristersson’s centre-right coalition government, but he has said it will continue to work closely with the Sweden Democrats. For him to get a majority in the Riksdag, the Sweden Democrats must support him. This allows the party to influence the government’s policy from the sidelines even if it has no seats in the government.
Magdalena Andersson, who currently leads Sweden’s largest party, the Social Democrats, will be replaced by Kristersson. He supports Sweden’s historic NATO application after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The centre-left opposition harshly criticized the new government coalition, with Lena Hallgren from the Social Democrats calling it “a strange construction”.
It would damage Sweden’s reputation as an equal and tolerant nation, according to many, because it represented a paradigm shift. The leader of the former communist left party, Nooshi Dadgostar, stated that her parents, who fled Iran, had no idea that Sweden would move towards authoritarianism.
The governments of Sweden and India agreed to deepen their cooperation in the area of innovation through a strategic innovation partnership.
The Indian-Swedish innovation partnership is beginning to show its positive effects in a variety of industries. India is now heavily dependent on Sweden as a trading partner. Over 200 Swedish companies are currently in India. Swedish companies invested 1.7 billion dollars in India, resulting in the creation of 200,000 direct jobs and 2,200,000 indirect jobs.
India and Sweden established relations in 1949 on a solid foundation of shared democratic values. Since Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Sweden in 1957, the two countries have had contacts at a high level.
Since then, many high-level visits have taken place. President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Sweden 31 May to 2 June 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sweden in April 2018 for the first Nordic India Summit and the visit of the King of Sweden in December 2019 at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind are the three most significant recent visits .
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