About Sweden

About Sweden

The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce has access to contacts in Sweden that can help expand your markets.

Despite the worldwide economic slow-down in 2001, investments in Sweden have continued. This fact solidifies the nation’s position as one of the top investment destinations in the world. While interest is spread over many sectors, life sciences, IT/telecommunications, automotive, forestry, and service sectors are among the most crucial.

Why Invest in Sweden?
The numbers of reasons are infinite, but to put it simply: Sweden offers a business friendly climate with a long tradition of industrial and technical cutting-edge knowledge. Sweden is a gateway to the European Union, Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and the rest of Europe.

• At only 28%, Sweden offers the second lowest corporate tax rate in the European Union. Other advantages of the Swedish tax system include: unrestricted deductibility of interest expense regardless of tax liability on investment, no Swedish tax-liability on outbound interest payments, no debt/equity limitations, no foreign exchange controls, dividend participation exemption and an efficient and accessible tax administration.
• As a member of the EU, Sweden has access to the world's largest free trade zone of over 370 million consumers. It is located in a strategic location for trading with the emerging Baltic countries, which provides another 100 million consumers.
• As the second most deregulated country within the European Union, Sweden offers an efficient, no-nonsense administrative apparatus.
• An excellent command of English as well as numerous other foreign languages is found within the highly educated workforce. Sweden also has the most advanced and widespread Information Technology knowledge in Europe.
• Due to the deregulation of the electrical energy market and the industry electrical tax exemption, the electricity prices are the lowest in Europe. The extremely liberal telecommunications market helps to create an infrastructure that is not only well developed but also cost-efficient.
• The Swedish workforce also boasts an unusual degree of equality, in fact, at the Women's Conference in Beijing in 1995; Sweden was awarded the prize for the highest degree of equality between the sexes.

Do you want more information about investing in Sweden? Visit www.isa.se Invest In Sweden Agency

Sweden and its geography
Sweden, located in the north of Europe by the Baltic Sea, is the third largest country in Europe. The population however, is only about 9 million people, leaving the inhabitants a magnificent, undestroyed and sparsely populated landscape. The capital, Stockholm on the east coast, has been the dominant trading center throughout the years. Other major cities, such as Gothenburg and Malmö in the south are also important business centers.

Water, wood, ore and mental power are the major natural resources of Sweden. Historically, the Swedish exports have been based on raw materials and energy from the mountains, the forests and the waterways. This, in combination with the tradition of inventions, innovations and entrepreneurship has made Sweden a famous and well-respected trading partner throughout the world.

Swedish Trade
By 800 AD, the Vikings were very good traders, not just raiders. They traveled to the Roman Empire trading for weapons and other useful tools. Since then, the Swedes have become friendlier and provide a wider spectrum of goods and services.

Today, Sweden is a world leader in state-of-the-art technology. Mechanical engineering products make up about one half of Swedish exports. Machinery, electronics and motor vehicles make up the main categories while forest products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and minerals make up another large part.

Swedish companies and products are global and known all over the world. IKEA - furniture; Ericsson - telephones; Volvo - cars and trucks, Saab -cars and airplanes, AstraZeneka and PharmaciaUpJohn - pharmaceuticals; clothing chain Hennes & Mauritz Electrolux - vacuum cleaners; Tetra Laval (packaging for liquids), Sandvik (steel products) and Atlas Copco (Rock drills, power tools); Stora - forest products and the world's oldest company ABB - electrical engineering and numerous other engineering and forest products. These companies are an important part of the Swedish economy. Sweden has always been a leading country in technology and engineering.

Sweden - a world leader in Information Technology
Sweden and it's population is world leading in using the Internet and wireless communications. That's one of the reasons Motorola and Sun Microsystems are among the foreign investors that have placed their Northern European head offices in Sweden.

The Swedish Constitution
Sweden is a Constitutional Monarchy with a single-chamber parliamentary government. The King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, has as head of state only ceremonial duties. The royal family will later pass the duties on to the eldest daughter, Crown Princess Victoria.

The ruling Government is elected every fourth year. The ruling party now is the Social Democratic Party (a minority) and prime minister is Göran Persson.

The Socialist blocks include the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Environment, or green party, whereas the Non-Socialist bloc includes the Conservatives, the Center Party, the Liberals and the Christian-Democrats. The Socialists have been in power almost continuously since the 1930s, and remain in power today. On January 1, 1995 Sweden became a member of the European Union. This membership made Sweden a part of the world's largest free trade area with 370 million consumers. As the largest economy in Scandinavia and with a location at the crossroads of the emerging Baltic markets and the EU, Sweden is strategically well placed for companies wishing to expand their business in this area. This, in combination with the business friendly Swedish environment, has led an increasing number of well-known companies, such as Motorola, Bausch & Lomb, Sun Microsystems to establish regional headquarters in Sweden.

Links about Sweden:
General information about Sweden - www.sweden.com
T ourism and travel in Sweden - www.visit-sweden.com
CityGuide Sweden - www.cityguide.se
Stockholm Information Service - Stockholm's visitor's guide - www.stockholmtown.com

Government resources
Sweden Direct - This Web Page will take you to all governmental Web Sites in Sweden -www.sverigedirekt.se
Invest in Sweden Agency - Information for foreign investors evaluating investment opportunities in Sweden - www.isa.se
ITPS - Policy intelligence, evaluation and statistics from the Institute for Growth Policy Studies - www.itps.nu
Exportrådet - The Swedish Trade Council - www.swedishtrade.se
Vinnova - Information about innovation policy anlysis - www.vinnova.se
NUTEK - Swedish Business Development Agency - www.nutek.se

Work and live
Dep. of Immigration - Information about what permits you need to live and work in Sweden - www.migrationsverket.se/english
Consulate General - When you are looking for information on how to apply for a visa to Sweden - www.swedeninfo.com
National Labor Market - National Labour Market Administration on unemployment, working, recruting - www.ams.se

Find a company
Swedish Export Directory - Directory of Swedish Export companies http://sed.swedishtrade.se
The Swedish Chambers of Commerce - www.cci.se
The Yellow Pages - Gula Sidorna - www.gulasidorna.se
The confederation of Swedish enterprise - Svenskt Näringsliv - www.svensktnaringsliv.se
Stockholmsbörsen - The merger between OM and the Stockholm Stock Exchange - www.stockholmsborsen.se
Gateway to Sweden - www.wwlink.se/gateway/english/

Swedish newspapers
Dagens nyheter - www.dn.se
Svenska Dagbladet - www.svd.se
Aftonbladet - www.aftonbladet.se
Expressen - www.expressen.se
Vestkusten - Swedish Newspaper in Californien: www.vestkusten.com