Focus: GS II- International Relations
Why in News?
Recently, India and Sweden hosted the Industry Transition Dialogue in Stockholm, as a part of their joint initiative i.e. Leadership for Industry Transition (LeadIT).
About LeadIT:
- The Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) gathers countries and companies that are committed to action to achieve the Paris Agreement.
- It was launched by the governments of Sweden and India at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 and is supported by the World Economic Forum.
- LeadIT members subscribe to the notion that energy-intensive industry can and must progress on low-carbon pathways, aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
- The Management Board is made up of representatives from Sweden, India, and the World Economic Forum
- The Secretariat is responsible for managing the work of the Leadership Group and is hosted by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).
- The total membership of LeadIT is 37 including countries and companies together.
- Japan and South Africa, the latest members of the initiative.
India – Sweden Relations
- The first India-Nordic Summit took place in the year 2018 following which King and Queen of Sweden gave a Royal Visit to India.
- After China and Japan, India is Sweden’s third largest trade partner in Asia. The main items of Indian exports to Sweden are articles of apparel, clothing accessories; textiles yarn, fabrics, made-ups; manufactures of metals; road vehicles; general industrial machinery and equipment.
- The main items of Indian imports from Sweden are pulp and waste paper; road vehicles; paper and paper board, general industrial machinery and equipment etc.
- It has been argued that India can be benefited by imitating the Nordic approach to innovation systems, characterised by a strong collaboration between public sector, private sector and academia.
- In areas like clean technologies, maritime solutions, port modernisation, food processing, health, life-sciences and agriculture, Nordic solutions have been deemed to be useful.
