French Presidential poll results has huge symbolic value for future of EU: Swedish Minister

NEW DELHI: The victory of Emmanuel Macron as the French President has huge symbolic value for future of Europe and EU and such developments can push Indo-EU ties to the next level including achieving much desired FTA, according to Swedish trade minister Ann Linde.

Linde who was in Delhi for India-Sweden joint commission meet, which she co-chairs with Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman, also expressed hope that measures like GST are encouraging for foreign investors including those from Sweden. The Scandinavian country is among top 20 investors in India.

The visiting Minister told ET that Swedish firms in India feel that climate of doing business in India is improving. But there are some challenges as highlighted by the Business Climate Survey in India released on 18 May.

Of the key challenges is labelling and that is because there are different rules in different states. There is also the problem of taxes as some companies have to pay 45% in taxes. There is also the issue of bureaucracy and corruption.

In Swedish Business Climate Survey, eight out of 10 companies invested what they were planning to or more than they intended to in India in 2016. And 8 out of 10 say they will increase their investment. At least 3 out of 4 companies consider the Indian investment climate favourable. And 3 out of 4 said the plan of the government of India to implement the Goods and Services Tax has contributed positively to make an impact on the business climate. Almost 65% of Swedish companies are satisfied with the business climate.

Referring to the free trade agreement with South Korea that was recently finalised the Minister stated that this has actually increased the exports from EU to South Korea by 50%. “It will be a great opportunity for India and the EU to complete the Free Trade Agreement.”