Tal "Stealth at Sea"-seminariet, Tokyo, Japan 17 april 2008
Ewa Björling, Handelsminister

Tal av Ewa Björling om utrikeshandel med Japan och försvarsindustrin (engelska)

Distinguished Guests and Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to make some comments on the occasion of the seminar "Stealth at Sea".

This is my first visit to Japan as Swedish Minister of Trade and I am very pleased to have the opportunity to meet with such a distinguished group, representing the most important and valued contacts for the three Swedish companies here today - Kockums, SAAB and Bofors.

The industrial and commercial relations between Japan and Sweden are impressively strong and vital.

Our business co-operation goes back more than 150 years. Many big Swedish companies - such as Sandvik, Atlas Copco, SKF, Alfa Laval, Ericsson, Tetra Pak, Volvo, Kockums, SAAB and Bofors - have a long history of trade and co-operation with Japan. Several of them also have production here.
Swedish Industry has always believed in the great potential of business relations Japan. It was Swedish business leaders who asked the Government to establish a Swedish diplomatic presence in Tokyo. And it was Swedish business leaders who bought and donated to the Government the piece of land where the Sweden Embassy is built - here, where we are today.

Business leaders' positive long-term view of Japan's potential was certainly correct. Since the early days of our business relations, Japan has not only developed into the second largest economy in the world but has also become one of Sweden's most important business partners.

Since the 1960s, our co-operation has been particularly strong in the fields of electronics and engineering. And from the 1990s and onwards, we have also had highly successful co-operation in the IT and communication sector. The establishment of Sony Ericsson in 2001 is an inspiring example of what Swedish-Japanese industry can achieve together.

Very encouraging is also the rapid increase in direct investments in both directions in recent years.

Japanese investments in Sweden have grown more than tenfold in less than 10 years. Today more than 160 companies in Sweden have a Japanese owner. This is a truly an impressive development.

In the other direction, Swedish investments in Japan have increased more than 20 times over the last ten years. Volvo's acquisition of Nissan Diesel and the establishment of the Swedish furniture retailer IKEA are two recent examples.

Personally, I am convinced that there is plenty of room for even deeper and closer co-operation, in several fields, between Sweden and Japan.

Both nations are global leaders in a number of industrial and technological fields. We share a passion for innovation and we spend more money on research and development than most other countries in the world. And the recent surge of Swedish-Japanese investments shows that we enjoy co-operating and doing business with each other.

One specific area in which I believe we have great potential to further our co-operation is the defence sector. Here, Sweden has some outstanding technologies and products that we would be happy to share with Japan and - given the interest and the possibilities - also continue to develop together.

The Swedish defence industries - including the three companies presented here today - have been established in Japan for quite some time. Several Swedish defence products are license-produced in Japan.

Today, we will focus on an exciting area which I am sure could be of interest in Japan, namely the use of stealth techniques at sea.

As many of you know, Kockums has revolutionised the art of naval shipbuilding by developing techniques for glass-fibre and carbon reinforced hulls. Combined with stealth technology, these ships are designed to elude all types of detection.

In Sweden, these technologies have been used for the production of our Visby Class Corvette. The Swedish Navy is very content with these new carbon stealth vessels and their qualities. I believe that this technology could also be of interest for Japan.

In addition to this, SAAB and Bofors will present some related and highly interesting products with stealth capabilities. SAAB will talk about their world-leading underwater equipment and Bofors about their weapon systems and how they can be integrated in a stealthy hull of a naval battleship.

I hope that you will find today's presentations interesting and that this seminar could be the start of an intensified dialogue and co-operation between Sweden and Japan in the defence industry sector.

Thank you!