P

resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left Stockholm, Sweden, for New York, US, shortly after meeting with the country'€™s top businessmen on Wednesday morning, local time, completing his two-day state visit to the European nation.

Yudhoyono met the top executives one-on-one at the Grand Hotel Stockholm.

They were Ulf Berg, CEO of investment and trade council Business Sweden; Jacob Wallenberg, chairman of investment firm Investor AB; Hans Vestberg, president CEO of telecommunication company Ericsson; as well as Ingvar Feodor Kamprad and Mikael Ohlsson, founder and president of furniture maker IKEA.

Sweden is an important Scandinavian partner, as of January, at least 77 Swedish companies were operating in Indonesia.

Total trade between the two countries reached US$1.46 billion in 2012, mostly attributed to Swedish exports to Indonesia. The trade volume in 2012 represented a 28 percent increase from $1.05 billion in 2011.

On Tuesday, Yudhoyono met with King Carl XVI Gustav, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and parliament speaker Per Westerberg.

'€œDiscussions covered cooperation in new sectors such as healthcare, science and technology, as well as world peacekeeping efforts,'€ presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah said in a statement made available on Wednesday.

According to him, Reinfeldt also told Yudhoyono that aerospace and defense company Saab Group had planned to offer engineering doctoral scholarships to 50 Indonesians starting from 2014.

Members of Indonesian jazz band White Shoes and the Couples Company, who coincidently were having a concert in Sweden, appeared at the hotel entrance when the President and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono were on their way to attend a state dinner hosted by the prime minister on Tuesday evening.

Yudhoyono'€™s delegation departed for New York on Wednesday afternoon, local time.

The President will chair the final meeting of the United Nations'€™ (UN) high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda, along with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

He will also be bestowed with the World Statesman Award by the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) in recognition of his contribution to the world'€™s interfaith dialogue and religious freedom. The award has triggered polemics at home particularly because of religious persecution.

Among Cabinet members accompanying the President were Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi and Industry Minister MS Hidayat.

They are scheduled to return to Indonesia on June 2.