THE director general of Sweden's industrial development agency, the ISA, said yesterday that while he had no grants or subsidies to woo potential Investors, the country offered "clusters of excellence and expertise" in certain sectors.

Mr Kai Hammerich told the Irish Swedish Business Association in Dublin that the Baltic rim region, in which Sweden held a strategic position, now had a population of 100 million.

Mr Hammerich added that he saw his job as being to encourage foreign companies to take an interest in Sweden, rather to allow them to make their own decision about whether a merger, an expansion or a green field development was most appropriate.