On November 5, 2020, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) virtually organized an India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave on the theme “An Innovation-driven Partnership for Growth in a New World”. It was sponsored by Denmark’s shipping company MAERSK.
- The Indian side was represented by Union Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, MEA along with participation of Secretary West, Vikas Swarup, Secretary Economic Relations (ER) Rahul Chhabra and Joint Secretary Central Europe Neeta Bhushan.
- This conclave was the outcome of the India-Denmark virtual summit that took place earlier in 2020. Click Here to Read
- Nordic-Baltic region can accelerate the growth in manufacturing sectors, proliferation of digitalization, waste management and skill development in India.
About the India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave:
The Conclave was focused on 8 main sectors in which Nordic-Baltic region has expertise and India offers opportunity, provided a platform to connect with potential Indian partners and discuss business partnerships featuring B2B (business to business) sections.
- 8 Main Sectors of the conclave & it’s sub-sector are: Renewable Energy and Clean Technologies; Factories of the future; Artificial Intelligence & Blockchain in Health care, Supply chains & Logistics, Fintech; Data & Cyber Security; Digital Infrastructure; Digital Gaming; Engineering & Innovation; The Blue Economy.
Participants:
Apart from India the conclave has participants from Nordic & Baltic countries.Nordic countries are a group of five nations in Northern Europe–Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, while Baltic countries are three countries–Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania who share a coastline with Baltic sea.
Scope of India-Nordic Nations Collaborations:
India-Nordic countries’ expertise in various areas can support the growth in manufacturing sectors, proliferation of digitalization, waste management and skill development in India. Following points shows are scope of collaborations:
–India and Finland can partner in the areas of 5G technology, quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) among others.
–India and Denmark can collaborate in the area of wind power, water, infrastructure, environment protection and climate change.
—Iceland has expertise in using natural resources for energy generation, converting greenhouse gases for use in manufacturing, utilizing ocean resources to create nutritional supplements and medicines, gaming technology among others.
—Latvia’s mastery in the digital space provides collaboration support in areas such as 5G, cyber-security and R&D (Research & Development).
–Estonian companies are growing in the Indian market especially in areas such as e-health, cyber security and development of 5-G technologies.
–Notably, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Astra-Zeneca, co-headquartered in Sweden is developing a vaccine for COVID-19 along with the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune, Maharashtra.
Other Participants: Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, Finland’s FM Ville Skinnari, Iceland’s Industry Minister Kolbrun R Gylfadottir, Latvia’s FM Edgars Rinkevics and Estonia’s FM Urmas Reinsalu.
Recent Related News:
- On the lines of doubling the income of farmers by 2022, the first ever virtual “CII Agro & Food Tech: India – International Food & Agri Week” was organized from October 16-22, 2020 which was virtually inaugurated by Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) during the 14th edition of the Agro and Food Tech.
- On September 30, 2020 Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani addressed the inaugural session of ‘India- Bangladesh Virtual Conference on Textiles and Apparel Sector’ organized by CII and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of commerce and Industry (FFBCCI).
About Confederation of Indian Industry (CII):
Director General– Chandrajit Banerjee
President– Uday Kotak
Headquarter– New Delhi
