The American e-commerce giant Amazon is on its way to Sweden. The company has begun the launch of a Swedish site and the establishment of a 15,000 square meter warehouse in Eskilstuna.
A review by Aftonbladet shows that the government began contact with Amazon as early as 2017. Since then, it has kept in close contact with the company, which has been promised grants and tax breaks.
The newspaper's review also shows that Amazon on one occasion had to be involved in designing the Minister of the Interior Mikael Damberg's quote before an advertising campaign.
"Creates jobs and welfare"The government has received criticism from both the right and the left for farting for the company, something the Minister of Trade and Industry Ibrahim Baylan does not think has been done.
- We do it neither for them nor for anyone else. However, the government argues for investment in our country. It creates jobs, development and welfare, says Ibrahim Baylan in SVT Morgonstudion.
In Germany, Amazon today accounts for 40 percent of all e-commerce - and in the United States almost half. The development worries Swedish small business owners who fear that Amazon will push them off the market.
- I fully understand that concern, especially during a pandemic where we saw that digitalisation went faster than before and traditional business models have had a hard time, says Ibrahim Baylan.
- But believing to keep the old way by excluding certain technicians or companies, I do not think is successful.
See part of the interview with Ibrahim Baylan in the clip above.