Swedish royal couple in India on 5-day visit

Swedish royal couple King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia arrived here on Monday on a five-day state visit and were accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Later, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called on the royal guests.

"Adding greater vigor to India-Sweden relations, HM King Carl XVI Gustaf & HM Queen Silvia arrived on a State visit to India. Adding greater momentum to exchanges at the highest-level, this visit marks the fourth such occasion between India-Sweden since 2015...," Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

The Swedish royal couple is slated to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and would also visit Mumbai and Uttarakhand.

This is the second state visit to India by the Swedish royal couple. The first was in 1993.

It is the fourth high-level exchange between Sweden and India since 2015 when former President Pranab Mukherjee was on a historic first state visit to Sweden.

In 2016, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven visited India and in 2018 Modi visited Sweden.
-IANS