Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Indian-Nordic summit will go a long way in boosting ties with the region. Modi said this as he met his counterparts from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland on the sidelines of the second India-Nordic Summit in Copenhagen where he arrived a day ago on the second leg of his three-nation Europe trip.
As he met the Nordic leaders, Modi also underlined that together they can achieve and contribute to global prosperity and sustainable development.
"The India-Nordic Summit will go a long way in boosting India’s ties with the region. Together, there is much that our nations can achieve and contribute to global prosperity and sustainable development," Modi tweeted at the end of the Summit.
Since Modi's visit comes amid the Ukraine crisis, which has united much of Europe against Russia, the conflict also figured during Modi's meeting with his counterparts from Nordic countries and during the India-Nordic summit.
Addressing a special briefing on the PM's visit to Denmark, foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said the leaders also discussed the Indo-Pacific.
"Both in the bilateral conversation and in the summit meeting also, the leaders did exchange views on matters of regional and global interest that naturally included Ukraine also. There were also discussions on the Indo-Pacific," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Modi also had a "wonderful meeting" with Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson during which they discussed ways to deepen bilateral ties and the progress in the Joint Action Plan.
{{/usCountry}}Modi also had a "wonderful meeting" with Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson during which they discussed ways to deepen bilateral ties and the progress in the Joint Action Plan.
{{/usCountry}}"We discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in key sectors like security, IT, research and innovation. Strong ties between our nations will benefit our people," Modi wrote on Twitter.
During the meeting, the two leaders took stock of the progress in the Joint Action Plan and also appreciated the expanding scope of the jointly launched LeadIT initiative, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
During the 2018 visit of Modi to Sweden, the two sides adopted a wide-ranging Joint Action Plan to take forward a wide range of initiatives in defence, trade and investment, renewable energy, smart cities, women’s skill development, space and science and healthcare.
“Discussions also took place on regional and global developments,” the MEA said, adding that the two leaders expressed satisfaction at the progress made by the Lead IT initiative.
This was a India-Sweden joint global initiative to set up a Leadership Group on Industry Transition (LeadIT) in September 2019 at the UN Climate Action Summit to help guide the world’s heaviest greenhouse gas emitting industries towards the low-carbon economy. Its membership has now grown to 35 with 16 countries and 19 companies.
"Both leaders also discussed possibilities of deepening cooperation in areas like innovation, climate technology, climate action, green hydrogen, space, defence, civil aviation, Arctic, polar research, sustainable mining and trade and economic ties," it added.
Modi also met his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin and discussed ways to further cement bilateral ties in trade, investment, technology and other sectors.
"Today’s meeting with Finland @MarinSanna was very fruitful. There is immense potential in expanding the India-Finland digital partnership, trade partnership and investment linkages. We also discussed ways to deepen cultural ties between our nations," Modi tweeted.
They discussed opportunities to expand cooperation in the fields of new and emerging technologies like AI, quantum computing, future mobile technologies, clean technologies and smart grids, the MEA said.
Modi invited Finnish companies to partner with Indian companies and take advantage of the enormous opportunities that the Indian market presents.
India's trade with Nordic countries stands at over USD 5 billion (2020-21).
(With agency inputs)