E-Visa for Swedish nationals soon: President

India will soon extend e-Visa facility to Swedish nationals, President Pranab Mukherjee today said as he invited the Nordic country to be a part of government's flagship programmes like the 'Make in India' initiative.

Addressing a seminar here on "India and Sweden: Co-creating a brighter future", Mukherjee said, "If India and Sweden pooled their innovative energies to address the challenges that India faces, the solutions that they come up with may benefit not just the two countries but the whole world."

Ahead of the seminar, the President met the CEOs of the Swedish companies where he asked them to invest in India.

The CEOs told the President that they were eagerly awaiting the outcome of government's decision on Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The GST bill was introduced in Parliament and is at present pending before the standing committee.

The CEOs also told the President that they wanted to expand manufacturing base in India and make use of the programmes like 'Make in India' and also export to a third country from India.

During the seminar, Mukherjee spoke about the changed political atmosphere in India and said "an atmosphere has been created which is business friendly" besides carrying out reforms in the policies.

He said India and Sweden have had traditionally warm and friendly relations based on shared commitment to multi-party democracy, an open society, freedom of expression, inclusive growth, an independent judicial system.

"I am pleased to inform you all that Sweden will feature in the list of countries to be soon granted the e-Tourist visa facility which would greatly facilitate travel for Swedish nationals who can come and explore 'Incredible India' with all its beauty, diversity, richness of culture, traditions, history and more," Mukherjee said.