Denmark’s PM gave a tour of her residence to PM Modi and accompanied him to the Indian Diaspora event. The visit of PM Narendra Modi to Denmark puts the spotlight back on the Nordic countries, which are often ranked as the happiest countries topping the Human Development Indices (HDI). Nordic countries include Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. In the recent happiness race, Finland stood at the top for the fifth year in a row, closely followed by Denmark. This makes it interesting to know as to what pedestals them as the happiest countries globally and in what way both sides (India & Nordic) can expand their collaboration and mutually benefit from that.
PM Modi in his departure statement ahead of this Europe visit had said, “Nordic countries are important partners for India in sustainability, renewable energy, digitisation and innovation. The visit will help in expanding our multifaceted cooperation with the Nordic region.” The first India-Nordic Summit had taken place in 2018, which provided a perfect platform to come together and realise the full potential of the partnership. Now, the second India-Nordic Summit with Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway acquires greater importance, where India discusses a whole host of cooperation. The agenda of the summit includes subjects like post-pandemic economic recovery, climate change, sustainability, digitization, technology, renewable energy, global security scenario and India-Nordic cooperation in the Arctic region.
In the broader picture, mutual economic interests have been the primary driver of the relations between India and Nordic countries where both have put ‘ease of doing business’ at the core of developmental strategy. In fact, in the last few years India has opened up more ground for investment within the nation and abroad. Of the five Nordic countries, four are among the top 20 trading partners of India in Europe – Sweden at 9th, Finland 10th, Denmark 12th and Norway at 14th rank.
Many of the Nordic companies have invested in India in various sectors. Sweden & Finland have invested substantially in India. Similarly, 200 Danish companies and around 100 Norwegian companies are engaged in India either through joint ventures or through wholly owned subsidiaries. Over the last few decades, Indian investment in Nordic countries has also increased with over 70 big Indian companies having their presence in Nordic region. However, there is still tremendous scope for expanding economic ties. Both sides also share democratic values and support for the multilateral rules-based world order. India presents an ideal opportunity for these countries because of its large market and the fastest growing economy.
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