(L to R) Icelnd’s Prime Minister of Iceland Katrin Jakobsdottir, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilae and Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg pose for a photo during a Nordic-Indian summit on April 17, 2018 at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden.
Stockholm, April 18 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held separate bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Finland ahead of the first ever India-Nordic Summit here.
Modi held the first meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
In a tweet, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the to leaders “had a good meeting on renewing and enhancing cooperation and expressed their mutual desire to take the relationship forward”.
After the meeting, the two sides exchanged MoUs in the areas of animal urban development, animal husbandry and dairying, food safety and agricultural research and educaion
Modi then met his Icelandic counterpart Katrin Jakobsdottir.
“PM urged Icelandic companies to look at India as an investment destination in blue economy and geothermal energy and strengthen cooperation in education, tourism and culture,” Kumar said.
After the meeting, the two sides signed an MoU on the establishment of the ICCR Chair for Hindi language between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the University of Iceland.
Following this, Modi held a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
According to the Indian spokesperson, the two leaders had an “engaging interaction” on trade and investment, shipping and port-development, blue economy, renewable energy, health, information technology and green transport solutions.
Finally, the Indian leader met Finnish Prime Minister Juhu Sipila.
“We had excellent discussions on deepening avenues of cooperation between India and Finland,” Modi said in a separate tweet.
India and Sweden are co-hosting the India-Nordic Summit on the second and final day of Modi’s visit to Sweden.
For India, Nordic countries are a potential source for clean technology, environmental solutions, port modernisation, cold chain, skill development, innovation among other areas.
According to figures provided by the Indian External Affairs Ministry, India’s trade with the Nordic countries totaled around $5.3 billion in 2016-17, with cumulative foreign direct investment in India at $2.5 billion.
Earlier on Tuesday, Modi held a bilateral summit with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven following which India and Sweden signed a Joint Action Plan and an Innovation Partnership for a Sustainable Future.
