Call for India-Nordic Baltic Region to make growth greener
The European Union-India Free Trade Agreement (EU-India FTA) needs to be concluded as soon as possible in order to deepen trade linkages with the Nordic-Baltic region.
While the individual market sizes of the Nordic-Baltic countries was small, taken together, they accounted for a very sizeable market, said Marcus Wallenberg, Chairman, SEB and Saab.
Wallenberg, also Co-chair India Sweden Business Leaders Round Table, Sweden, underlined the importance of EU-FTA backing business opportunities presented by Ministers from the region at the India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave: “An Innovation-driven Partnership for Growth in a New World” on 5 Nov 2020.
Ville Skinnari, Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland, also saw the need for India to finalise an investment protection agreement with the EU, of which Finland was a part.
A two-way relationship was developing with an increasing number of Indian companies investing in Finland, he informed the conclave, calling on India and Finland to work together in areas such as 5G technology, quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence among others.
Similarly, India and Denmark could work together in the area of wind power, water, and infrastructure, according to Jeppe Sebastian Kofod, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark.
Speaking at the conclave organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in cooperation with the Ministry of External Affairs, Kofod called for India and Denmark to cooperate more closely in multilateral fora in areas such as environment protection and climate change.
Iceland Minister also highlighted areas where Iceland had developed significant expertise.
These included using natural resources for energy generation, converting greenhouse gases for use in manufacturing, utilizing ocean resources to create nutritional supplements and medicines, gaming technology among others, said Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir, Minister of Tourism, Industries and Innovation.
Latvia’s expertise in the digital space was highlighted by Edgars Rinkevics, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who called on the two countries to work together in areas such as 5G, cyber-security and R&D.
The growing interest of Estonian companies in the Indian market especially in areas such as e-health, cybersecurity and development of 5-G technologies was presented by Urmas Reinsalu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Estonia.
He stated that industry from the region has been operating in India for many years, highlighting the fact that Astra-Zeneca, which was co-headquartered in the region was developing a vaccine for COVID-19 along with the Serum Institute in Pune.
In his inaugural address to the conclave, Dr. S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, saw the potential for India and the Nordic-Baltic Region to work together to make growth greener, smarter and more digital.
In his view, India and the Nordic-Baltic region could work together to make a major difference in the area of green technologies as well as digital technologies and India’s own strength in the ICT space.
India and the Nordic-Baltic Region had a long history of cooperation and had a substantial trade and investment relationship which Dr. Jaishankar felt could be strengthened further as India carried out economic reforms. #trade #investment #technologies #manufacturing #exports #projects #environmental /fiinews.com
