External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar chaired the India-Nordic-Baltic meeting held on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue 2024. He expressed that the interaction with his counterparts proved to be highly beneficial.

Foreign Ministers from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, and Latvia, along with representatives from Norway, Iceland, and Lithuania, participated in the India-Nordic-Baltic 8 meeting held on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue2024.

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar expressed gratitude to the attendees in a post on X, acknowledging their presence and participation. The discussions focused on clean and green technologies, digital cooperation, and cyber cooperation. Additionally, the foreign ministers addressed regional, global, and multilateral issues during the meeting.

"Clean and green technologies, digital and cyber cooperation, high-quality skills, and global supply chains are identified as promising avenues for future endeavours," stated the post. Additionally, it highlighted the exchange of perspectives on regional, global, and multilateral issues as highly beneficial.

The first two India-Nordic Summits took place in Stockholm in April 2018 and Copenhagen in May 2022. Additionally, the second CII India Nordic Baltic Business Conclave was held in the national capital in November last year. During this event, Jaishankar emphasized that India's involvement with the Nordic-Baltic 8 (NB8) has broadened in recent years.

Jaishankar remarked, "Our engagement with the NB8 countries has notably expanded in recent years. We established our embassies in Tallinn in December 2021 and Vilnius in March of this year."

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, emphasized the substantial increase in India's exports to Nordic regions during his address at the second CII India Nordic-Baltic Business Conclave 2023.

The Union Minister highlighted that India's exports to the Nordic region experienced a notable increase, surpassing 39 percent from 2018-19 to 2022-23. Specifically, exports to Finland surged by over 100 percent, while those to Norway saw a substantial growth of 80 percent during the same period.

Notably, the NB8 countries collectively constitute an economy exceeding USD 2 trillion, comprising of a population of approximately 33 million and a notably high standard of living.

Image source: Millennium Post news