Context:

• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India  organized the second edition of the CII India Nordic Baltic Business Conclave in New Delhi.

India Nordic Baltic Business Conclave – Key Highlights

• Investment in Infrastructure: India’s External Affairs Minister sought investments from Nordic-Baltic countries in the development of ports, renewable energy, food processing, and fisheries.
• India’s Trade with NB8: The minister outlined that India’s combined trade in goods with the NB8 countries was around USD 7.3 billion in 2022-23, and the cumulative FDI received from Nordic countries since 2000 stood at USD 4.69 billion

India Nordic Relations

Areas Of Cooperation: The joint statement of the first India Nordic Summit in April 2018 identified four areas of cooperation between India and Nordic countries as follows:

• Economic Growth:  Of the five Nordic countries, four rank in the top 20 trading partners of India in Europe – Sweden at 9th, Finland 10th, Denmark 12th and Norway at 14th. 
• Innovation: India and Nordic countries also share robust innovation cooperation. 
  • For example, India is one of the centers that host one of the five global centers of innovation run by Finland known as FinNode. 
    • The main focus areas of FinNode India are clean tech, education and learning, health care and wellbeing, and innovations to base-of-the-pyramid markets
• Climate Change: During the India-Nordic Summit, the Prime Ministers reaffirmed their full commitment to implementing the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development as well as the ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement.
• Global Security: Nordic countries agreed that India is a strong candidate for a permanent seat in a reformed Security Council, expanded with both permanent and non-permanent members. 

Conclusion:

• India’s cooperation with the Nordic states carries tremendous scope for expanding their economic ties and helping India in innovation and sustainable development. 
• Both sides are also brought together by their shared democratic values and support for the multilateral rules-based order. 

News Source: Business Standards