PM Modi meets Finnish premier Marin, discusses ways to cement bilateral ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin here and discussed ways to further cement bilateral ties in trade, investment, technology and other sectors.

Modi, who arrived here on Tuesday from Berlin on the second leg of his visit to three European nations, met Marin on the sidelines of the second India-Nordic Summit in the Danish capital.

“Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @MarinSanna met in Copenhagen. The developmental partnership between India and Finland is rapidly growing. Both leaders discussed ways to further cement this partnership in trade, investment, technology and other such sectors, the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted.

This was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders.

During the “productive meeting”, the two leaders “discussed expanding our convergences in new & emerging areas like AI, 5G/6G and quantum computing. Invited Finnish business community to invest in hi-tech sectors in India,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

Both sides expressed satisfaction at the progress made in the implementation of the outcomes of the bilateral Virtual Summit held on March 16, 2021, the MEA said in a press release.

Both leaders noted that areas like sustainability, digitalisation and cooperation in science and education were important pillars of the bilateral partnership. They discussed opportunities to expand cooperation in the fields of new and emerging technologies like AI, quantum computing, future mobile technologies, clean technologies and smart grids, it added.

Prime Minister Modi invited Finnish companies to partner with Indian companies and take advantage of the enormous opportunities that the Indian market presents, particularly in telecom infrastructure and digital transformations.

Discussions also took place on regional and global developments, and on greater cooperation in international organisations, the release added.

Modi would also attend the 2nd India-Nordic Summit along with Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway where they will take stock of the cooperation since the First India-Nordic Summit in 2018.

India’s trade with Nordic countries stands at over USD 5 billion (2020-21) and a cumulative FDI of over USD 3 billion (April 2000- March 2021)

(With Agency inputs)