King of Sweden on state visit to Singapore from Nov 19 to 21

STOCKHOLM – While Sweden and Singapore have enjoyed fruitful mutual ties for over half a century, an upcoming visit by the Swedish monarch aims to cement a broader and deeper long-term partnership.

The state visit to Singapore, led by the Scandinavian nation’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, will take place from Nov 19 to 21.

The aim is to strengthen the two countries’ cooperation on trade, innovation, investment and the green transition.

More than 100 business delegates will visit Singapore with the Swedish King.

The business delegation is one of the largest ever put together by Sweden for any state visit, reflecting robust interest from Swedish firms to enter the Singapore market or expand existing businesses, said the King on Nov 12.

He and Queen Silvia received visiting Singapore reporters at the royal palace, located in the old town at the heart of Swedish capital Stockholm.

The meeting was part of a media trip there hosted by the Swedish government from Nov 11 to Nov 14, ahead of the state visit.

“This (state visit) is to show the continuity, hopefully to make a long-lasting collaboration in any kind of business, and... hopefully, we can find new interesting sectors (to collaborate on),” the monarch told reporters present.

Underscoring the parallels between Singapore and Sweden, the King said: “We are a fairly small economy, which means that we have had to live on exports for the last couple of hundred years.”

However, he added that competition in the global supply chain is much tougher nowadays, and that Sweden and Singapore, both countries known for “fearless” innovators, can take on this competition together.

He is also keen to find out more about how the Republic maintains the efficiency and cleanliness it is known for.

Meanwhile, Queen Silvia expressed hopes that Singapore and Sweden will collaborate even more closely on healthcare, especially towards curing dementia.

The staunch dementia and eldercare advocate cared for her mother for more than two decades after a dementia diagnosis.

A business forum, which the Swedish King will attend, will be held on Nov 20.

Overall, more than 10 agreements in areas including trade, security and health will be signed during the visit.

Echoing the Swedish King’s sentiments, Mr Hakan Jevrell, State Secretary to the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, told reporters on Nov 12: “We are trying to increase our international footprint, which is very much needed in these very difficult geopolitical times.

“We need to come closer to friends and to continue keeping value chains open. From that perspective, I do believe that Sweden and Singapore are very much like-minded as countries very much dependent on open trade (in a) rules-based world order,” said Mr Jevrell, who was ambassador to Singapore from 2013 to 2018.

He added that all estimates show that the largest share of global economic growth will come from Asia, which would make it natural for Sweden to engage with the region – and Singapore as the hub for the region.

Still, he admitted that the prospect of expanding to Singapore remains daunting for small and medium-sized companies, but added that increased people-to-people exchanges, especially in research, could close the gap.

One example is former NTU president Bertil Andersson, a Swede, Mr Jevrell added.

He also said: “With very tight global competition, it’s a matter of being seen and heard as well.”

Hence, the visit aims to show decision-makers in the Singapore Government and firms in the Republic that Sweden does actually have solutions that are relevant for the region, while sending a signal to those Swedish companies not yet present in Singapore or Asia that it is high time to go global.

Nonetheless, Mr Jevrell said more can be done to make it easier for those people-to-people exchanges that drive innovation to occur, including surrounding practicalities such as housing.

Separately, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters on Nov 11 that, like Singapore, Sweden champions free trade and open markets, which have taken on even more importance amid ongoing economic uncertainty and following election results in the United States.

US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to precipitate an inward turn economically in the world’s largest economy, with global implications.

When asked about the country’s accession to military alliance Nato in March and its views on the war in Ukraine, Ms Malmer Stenergard said: “The support for Ukraine, militarily, economically and politically, is the most important task for Sweden as regards foreign policy for the coming years.

“Joining Nato was a result of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine. This will continue to be a top priority, and we are trying to promote even further support from other countries to Ukraine in order to make sure that they win the war.”

She added that a peace process that excludes Ukraine sets a precedent that Russia could gain from attacking a friendly neighbour, and amounts to an unacceptable violation of the United Nations charter.

Ms Malmer Stenergard, who took office in September as part of a Cabinet reshuffle of the incumbent conservative government, also said criticism from the US and from Trump that the European member states of Nato are not spending enough on the military is legitimate.

“And so, Sweden has (taken these) lessons, and we are now at 2.3 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product), and we are aiming at 2.6 per cent by 2028. We try to emphasise the importance that every country in Nato does the same, because I think it’s also fair that we contribute equally.”

There are over 300 Swedish companies present in Singapore, and more than 2,000 Swedes reside in the Republic.

The upcoming state visit is the first from Sweden to Singapore, even though the King and Queen have been to Singapore twice in other capacities previously, in 1982 and 1991.

The King will receive a ceremonial welcome and call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Parliament House on Nov 19, with a state banquet to be held that day.

Ms Malmer Stenergard is also expected to give a lecture on strengthening cross-regional security as part of the Raffles Lectures by the International Institute for Strategic Studies on Nov 20.

Editor’s note: The story has been updated to reflect the fact that Queen Silvia will no longer be travelling to Singapore.