Page 12 - The Indian EYE 061022

OPINION JUNE 10, 2022 | The Indian Eye 12

and water management. irbhar Bharat’ in sectors like defence
PM Modi’s visit to Denmark fo- and technology, manufacturing and
cused on three Ts: Trade, Technology industry-to-industry partnerships. This
and Talent. India and Danish bilateral has great potential to help India diver-
trade in goods and services has im- sify its defence technology and give
proved by 78 per cent from US$ 2.8 bil- impetus to local production, thereby
lion in 2016 to US$ 5 billion in 2021 in cutting the production costs and creat-
products and services, but there is still ing jobs within India.
a lot more untapped potential. Around
200 Danish firms have investments in Conclusion
India in shipping, renewable energy,
agriculture and smart urban devel- India has always viewed Europe
opment. Danish firms like LM Wind from the prism of post-colonialism.
Power, Grundfos, Danfoss and Haldar But in the past decade, it has come to
Nordic countries are pioneers in realize that cooperation with Europe
green technology, the second ‘T’. In- not only suits its interests in the In-
dia and Denmark started the ‘Green do-Pacific, but also opens an array of
Strategic Partnership’ in September way to balance China. Council’s policy towards India, which opportunities in other domains. Green
2020, focusing on green transition, en- is currently presided over by France. and sustainable growth is one of the
ergy research, bio-resources, amongst Visit to France Modi and Macron bilateral talks fo- pioneer issues on which India and Eu-
others. Prime Minister Frederiksen’s cused on the Indo-Pacific, Russia– rope can cooperate. Blue economy,
visit to India last year, translated the The last leg of PM Modi’s visit Ukraine crisis, strategic cooperation, maritime trade and Arctic are some of
partnership into a results-oriented was to France, one of India’s most im- climate, clean energy and sustainable the shared interests which feature high
five-year action plan. portant strategic partners since 1998. development. Both nations reiterat- on the priority list of both EU and In-
France is the only European residen- ed their commitment to a free, open dia. Both these regions contribute a
India-Nordic Summit tial power in the Indo-Pacific region, and rules-based Indo-Pacific region. huge chunk to the global trade but as
which makes it a heavyweight in steer- The leaders also agreed to set up European Commission President Ur-
On 3 May, PM Modi attended ing European Union’s Indo-Pacific a bilateral strategic dialogue on space sula von der Leyen pointed out, they
the 2nd Nordic Summit in Copenha- policy. India conducts regular defence issues and cooperate on cyber security, hardly share decent figures in their bi-
gen, with the first being held in 2018 exercises like Varuna, Garuda, Shakti nuclear issue, counter-terrorism and lateral trade.
in Sweden. Such a format is of special and Desert Knight with France, re- digital technology. The Jaitapur EPR India and the EU set up ‘The
significance as the five Nordic states flecting the deep defence ties between Project is one such example of cooper- Trade and Technology Council’ in
follow this kind of format only with the two countries. It is a very import- ation. The French company EDF has April 2022, to resolve challenges in
the US, apart from India. Discussions ant defence ally, aiding defence diver- been negotiating with National Power trade, technology and security. This is
were held on multilateral cooperation sification, given that India relies heav- Corporation of India Limited (NP- expected to facilitate negotiations for
in the Arctic on Polar Research, cli- ily on Russian defence technology and CIL) to build six nuclear reactors at a Free Trade Agreement with the EU.
mate change, post-pandemic recovery, equipment. Jaitapur, Maharashtra. Once this deal The key focus areas include cooper-
innovation, digitalization and green The return of Emmanuel Macron is sealed, it would provide India with ation on 5G, artificial intelligence, as
growth. PM Modi invited the Nordic as the French President not only signi- an additional capacity of 9.6 GW. well as trade and security. PM Modi’s
states to especially invest in blue econ- fies continuity in India– France bilater- President Macron agreed for a visit to all these countries involved
omy and digitalization in India. al ties but also a continuity in European deeper French involvement in ‘Atman- shared concerns like green growth, In-
On the side-lines of this summit, do-Pacific, Russia–Ukraine crisis and
PM Modi held bilateral discussions initiating comprehensive migration
with each of the five leaders of Nordic and mobility partnerships. Develop-
states. His discussions with the Norwe- ment initiatives in third countries can
gian leader, Jonas Gahr Store revolved further help India rally its outreach in
around blue economy, water manage- those states and build on the bilater-
ment, fisheries and green energy. Wa- al relations with partner states. While
ter management was taken up, espe- the Russia–Ukraine crisis has given
cially given Norway’s expertise in this India the impetus to engage more
arena. Talks with the Swedish Prime proactively with European states, the
Minister Magdalena Andersson and need is to maintain and build on the
Finnish leader Sanna Marin focused momentum, in the pursuit of mutual
on IT, quantum computing, Artificial benefit and prosperity.
Intelligence (AI) and innovation. Bi-
lateral discussions with the Icelandic Anandita Bhada is a Research Analyst
leader, Katrin Jakobsdottir involved at MP-IDSA, New Delhi.
issues like Arctic, geothermal energy Views expressed are of the author and
and food processing, with special em- do not necessarily reflect the views of
phasis on geothermal energy owing to the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
Iceland’s expertise in this area. Government of India.
Nordic states are wary of China’s
growing presence in the Arctic region This is the abridged version of the
as well as the Arctic Council. India has article which appeared first in the
recently announced its Arctic Policy, Comment section of the website (www.
which bodes well with the ambitions of idsa.in) of Manohar Parrikar Institute
Nordic states in this region. They see for Defense Studies and Analyses, New
India’s involvement in the Arctic as a Delhi on May 30, 2022

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