India News | Union S&T Minister Calls for Global Scientific Collaboration for Bringing 'ease of Living'

New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday discussed with a Swedish delegation ways to ramp up bilateral cooperation in the area of science and technology, and called for global collaboration to bring "ease of living" to people.

The Union minister for science and technology also said governments of India and Sweden have proposed to launch a new joint call on circular economy, including themes such as health science and waste to wealth, by the department of science and technology, department of biotechnology and Swedish VINNOVA soon, according to a statement

Senior officials of the science and technology ministry were also part of the discussions.

The Swedish delegation was led by Ambassador Klas Molin. Principal Scientific Adviser to the government K Vijay Raghavan, DST Secretary Ashutosh Sharma, DBT Secretary Renu Swarup, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Director General Shekhar were also part of the meeting.

Singh also called for global scientific collaboration for bringing “ease of living” for the common man.

He said India and Sweden are best positioned to take the science and technology partnership forward and particularly emphasised the early operationalisation of the Smart Grid Project in the wake of challenges of climate change.

“Both the governments proposed to launch a new joint call on circular economy including the themes such as health science and waste to wealth by the department of science and technology, department of biotechnology and Swedish VINNOVA soon,” Singh said.

The minister recalled that the joint declaration on India-Sweden innovation partnership and the joint action plan adopted during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2018 identified the energy sector as an important area for taking forward concrete cooperation between the two countries.

He said the 6th joint committee held on May 2, 2019, between the two countries identified several important themes for science and technology cooperation such as smart cities, clean technologies, and a circular economy.

Ambassador Molin said that the cooperation is happening in an organic fashion and it has the blessings of top leadership from both the countries.

He also called for a joint action plan for a sustainable future and creation of more employment opportunities in both the countries. Molin said the number of skilled Indian workers are continuously growing in Sweden as roughly 50,000 are currently employed.

Prime ministers of India and Sweden had a meeting on March 5. They welcomed the launch of a second joint industrial research and development call on smart and sustainable cities, transport systems, clean technologies and digitalisation and Internet of Things under India-Sweden Collaborative Industrial Research and Development Programme. They also welcomed cooperation in Smart Energy Grids.

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