Prime Minister Modi will visit five countries from May 15-20, after UAE he will head to Europe!
After this the Prime Minister will stay in Netherlands from 15 to 17 May. This is his second visit after 2017 and it is taking place at an important juncture in bilateral relations. This also includes the 3rd India-Nordic Summit, whose main focus will be on trade, investment, green technology and innovation. The visit to these four European countries comes at a time when we finalized the India-EU FTA earlier this year.”
George further said, “During the visit, the Prime Minister will have bilateral talks with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. He will also meet King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. The Prime Minister is also expected to address the Indian community and meet top business leaders of the Netherlands.”
After Netherlands the Prime Minister will go to Sweden. On May 17, the Prime Minister will pay an official visit to Gothenburg, Sweden. This will be Prime Minister Modi’s second visit to Sweden. Earlier, in 2018, he had visited Sweden for the first India-Nordic Summit.
This upcoming visit reflects the growing depth of India-Sweden relations. Relations between the two countries have continued to strengthen under the India-Sweden Innovation Partnership announced in 2018. During the visit, the Prime Minister will discuss with his Swedish counterpart a wide-ranging bilateral issues, including trade and investment, green transition, AI, emerging technologies, strong supply chains, defense cooperation, space cooperation, climate action and people-to-people contacts.
Along with this, the Prime Minister will attend the European Round Table for Industry as the chief guest. It is a high-level forum of leading industrialists and business leaders from Europe and the UK. Ursula Vaughan will also address it.
According to George, economic and business relations between India and Sweden are continuously strengthening. Bilateral trade is projected to reach approximately US$7.75 billion in 2025. There are more than 280 Swedish companies operating in India and more than 75 Indian companies operating in Sweden.
The two Prime Ministers also took this initiative forward during the COP28 to be held in Dubai in 2023.
During the AI Action Summit held in February this year, India and Sweden signed a joint statement to establish the “Sweden-India Technology and AI Corridor”, which aims to strengthen cooperation in AI, emerging technologies and innovation ecosystem.
Defense cooperation has also emerged as an important pillar of bilateral relations. The Swedish company has set up its UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) manufacturing plant in India. This is Saab’s first such manufacturing facility outside Sweden and the first facility set up under 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s defense sector.
On May 18, PM Modi will pay an official visit to Norway at the invitation of Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Storey to attend bilateral talks and the 3rd India-Nordic Summit to be held on May 19.
This will be Prime Minister Modi’s first bilateral visit to Norway and also the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Norway in the last 43 years. The Prime Minister will also meet King Harald V and Queen Sonya of Norway.
Prime Minister Modi and PM Storey will jointly address the India-Norway Trade and Research Summit, the main focus of which will be to promote trade, technology and investment and advance the implementation of the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA).
The third India-Nordic summit will be held in Oslo on 19 May. The Prime Ministers of Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden will participate in it along with Prime Minister Modi.
The Nordic countries are important partners for India in the areas of technology, innovation, sustainable development, renewable energy and digitalization.
Bilateral trade in goods and services between India and the Nordic countries has reached approximately US $ 90 billion. In this, India’s exports are around 9.5 billion dollars and imports are also around 9.5 billion dollars.
More than 700 Nordic companies are operating in India, while around 150 Indian companies have a presence in the Nordic region. Prime Minister Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with the Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland and Finland on the sidelines of the 3rd India-Nordic Summit.
After this the PM will go to Italy. “As you know, the Italian Defense Minister had a successful visit to India last month. Both sides are also exploring the possibilities of defense industrial cooperation, co-development, and co-production of defense equipment,” George said.
Both sides will also discuss further strengthening maritime security cooperation. India and Italy also cooperate closely in the security sector. The two Prime Ministers had announced a joint initiative to counter the financing of terrorism.
The main focus of the discussions will be to expand and further strengthen various areas of cooperation. Several important agreements and MoUs are likely to be signed during the visit, which will further strengthen the institutional framework and add new areas of cooperation.
The Prime Minister’s visit will further deepen the India-Italy strategic partnership, expand cooperation in various fields, and strengthen coordination on regional and global challenges. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the visit is taking place in the backdrop of the historic India-EU Free Trade Agreement, India-EU Security and Defense Partnership, and Comprehensive Framework Agreement on Mobility Cooperation signed earlier this year.
This visit of the Prime Minister will further strengthen relations between India and Europe in important areas such as trade, investment, innovation, defence, security, technology, green energy and people-to-people ties.
West Bengal: CM Suvendu Adhikari took entry in the Assembly like this!
Comments are closed.