Relationship dossier
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Relationship assessment
Economic agreements underpin ties, alongside Swedish concern over human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka toward Sweden
+15Sri Lanka has entered bilateral economic agreements with Sweden, including arrangements concerning investment protection and double taxation. These provide a concrete basis for government-to-government cooperation, though the scope of more recent engagement is unclear.
Sweden toward Sri Lanka
+15Sweden has maintained bilateral economic arrangements with Sri Lanka and supported UN Human Rights Council action addressing accountability and human rights concerns there. Its policy therefore combines formal economic cooperation with criticism of Sri Lanka's postwar human-rights record.
Overall relationship
+15The relationship has a durable economic framework through bilateral investment-protection and double-taxation arrangements. Swedish support for international action on accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka adds a significant point of friction, making the overall relationship cooperative in some areas but not an especially close partnership.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Sri Lanka and Sweden maintain a relationship supported by bilateral economic arrangements, including an investment-protection agreement and a double-taxation agreement. Sweden has also raised accountability and human-rights concerns regarding Sri Lanka, including through support for UN Human Rights Council action. These cooperative and critical elements indicate a mixed relationship; details of recent bilateral government engagement are limited.
Areas of tension
- Accountability and human-rights concerns relating to Sri Lanka's postwar record.
Key developments
Sri Lanka and Sweden concluded bilateral agreements concerning investment protection and double taxation.
Sweden supported UN Human Rights Council action addressing accountability and human-rights concerns in Sri Lanka.
Major uncertainties
- The current scope and implementation of bilateral economic agreements are unclear.
- Details of recent Sri Lankan government engagement with Sweden are limited.
- The extent of continuing Swedish development or humanitarian cooperation with Sri Lanka is unclear.