Two students, unreal opportunities: PM Modi visits Gothenburg
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It was almost noon. On a regular day we would be preparing for lunch. However, we found ourselves running across Landvetter airport to catch up with the press group while an official chased us to check our IDs. Finally, we caught up, two mere highschool students standing amongst decorated journalists with millions of kronors worth of equipment. Waiting anxiously to step onto the tarmac to watch and capture footage of the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, as he is received by the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Ulf Kristersson, for his visit to Gothenburg.
Some may be wondering: how did we get here? We were trying to understand the same thing. Surprisingly, all it took was two messages: one to Kristina, our Principal, and one to Mrs. Boel Lindbergh, Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' International Press Centre, on behalf of the school newspaper. Thanks to the Swedish Government’s care and emphasis on student experiences, they gladly invited us, Nived and Sham, two 16 year old students of IH, to both the Landvetter Airport welcoming ceremony and the press conference at World of Volvo.
A picture of her and her team is presented.
In the second week of May 2026, PM Modi’s diplomacy tour started off at Abu Dhabi, then moved to Amsterdam, then Gothenburg, moving on to Oslo and Rome before he returned to New Delhi. Focusing on the Scandinavian leg of the tour, he attended the Second Indian-Nordic summit, the first one being in 2018. In January, India and the European Union signed a Free Trade Agreement which greatly reduced import taxes on European goods sold in India and vice versa. This visit was intended to further strengthen this relationship and increase bilateral trade. Here in Gothenburg, Modi met with European business leaders in order to achieve this.
The image under this paragraph shows a Sony broadcasting camera. The lens alone costs about 150k Kronor. Our entire setup at max was around 20 thousand. (Side note: I (Sham) do not remember saying that, but sounds like something I’d say)
At 11:30 we arrived at Landvetter Airport and headed towards the information desk. We noticed that we were the first to arrive, as we could not see any other media teams nearby. Not to our surprise, they arrived shortly after. Huge tripods, multiple expensive cameras and gear to go with it: Sham was having a blast just looking at it! “The stuff next to that table together is worth more than your house!” Sham said, trying to make me truly grasp the league difference between us and the others we were with.
An hour later, we were taken by bus from a private terminal at the ground floor of the airport to the end of the tarmac where the red carpet and staircase were prepared for the arrival. Then, we were given time to set up. There was a small enclosure created with retractable belt stanchions about 40 meters away from the exit point, where the Prime Minister of Sweden and the Indian Ambassador were waiting for PM Modi to disembark from his plane. The wind was blowing so hard it knocked our tripod right over, but thankfully everything was in working order.
An image of the Arméns Musikkår is shown.
A while later, the plane arrived. They kept us in suspense for about 15 minutes before Modi got out. He was welcomed by a Swedish military parade that marched onto the tarmac earlier, and they stood in respect as the national anthems of both India and Sweden were played. From there, he got into an armored car followed by a convoy of 6 cars.
The front of the convoy is shown. PM Modi was not transported in a Volvo.
After the arrival, we made our way to the city center. It was extremely odd that we were the only two Indians in the area who were dressed in suits, rather than the numerous others who were dressed in far more traditional Indian clothing, such as Kurtas or Saaris, waiting for an opportunity to cheer or see the Indian Prime Minister. We definitely got some strange looks there.
The flags next to Vasa Kronan were changed to also have the Indian flag. Sidenote: we were also given weird looks by Norwegians in Gothenburg, as it was the Norwegian national day.
At about 16:00 we arrived at World of Volvo, where the security was highly intense. Our bags were searched thoroughly and we were scanned for metal objects. Surprisingly, there was more security at this event than at the airport! We were escorted up to the 5th floor where they had a lounge for press members with explicit instructions to stay within the accessible area and not to leave. We were provided with plenty of snacks and refreshments to stay energized. This was a perfect opportunity for us to socialize with the decorated journalists. Some of the people who we met were Johan Mikaelsson, editor of Sydasien.se, Paul Wennerholm, a freelance journalist who has worked for multiple publications in Gothenburg, and Sandeep Mewada and Bhavik Patel, full time indian engineers who moved to Gothenburg and capture media for Indian media channels who may not have the resources to make the trip to Europe.
An image of the pedestals.
At 18:30, the conference started in the press room on the ground floor. Three pedestals were placed with flags behind them: India, EU, and Sweden. In that one room, us two high school students were there listening to 3 world leaders. President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Here, they talked about the various aspects of the deal that has been signed.
The deal included: an aim to double bilateral trade between the India and the EU by 2030, joint India-EU maritime security efforts, information sharing in relation to national and global security, joint anti-terrorism task force, joint innovation partnership, AI security, the green transition, and a joint space program which will collaborate on an instrument that will be a part of the Venus orbiter mission. This deal is estimated to create about 23,000 new jobs in Sweden, with about 6,000 of them being in Gothenburg.
Prime Minister Kristersson speaking.
Finally, the day came to an end. We were indebted to Boel, who was the reason we got this opportunity, and we expressed our gratitude. The shock lasted from the day we had while we walked out of World of Volvo to being welcomed by a crowd of people waiting for Modi to come out that way. This truly made us realize how lucky we were. While many lined up outside for hours, we were given the chance to be in the heart of the event and experience it from a perspective that most don’t get. We can only hope that there are more opportunities like this one next year that more members of the ITCH can attend. As one of the leaders of the ITCH, I truly aspire and strive for wonderful opportunities and experiences that both current and future members may have. If you would like to have the opportunity to become a student journalist and potentially experience future events from the perspective of the press, be sure to apply for the ITCH!
Writer: Nived
Photgraphy: Sham
Editor: Emily
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