Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on his ‘three-day three-nation’ tour of Europe from May 2 to May 4. PM Modi visited three European countries Germany, Denmark and France during his visit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Denmark on Tuesday during his three-day Europe visit. On Wednesday, PM Modi met his counterpart in Norway, Sweden and Iceland on the sidelines of the second India-Nordic summit.
India and the Nordic countries on Wednesday discussed the destabilising effect of the conflict in Ukraine and its broader regional and global implications as they agreed to remain closely engaged on the issue.
Which are the Nordic countries?
The term ‘Nordic’ is derived from ‘Norden’ which means, the northern islands. The residents are known as ‘Norbdo’ which means in the literal term, ‘northern dwellers’.
A geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic are Nordic countries including Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands (an archipelago of islands as an autonomous country within the kingdom of Denmark).
India’s relationship with Nordic countries
It said India and the Nordic countries affirmed their support for a rules-based international order and for multilateral institutions and their commitment to work towards making them more inclusive, transparent, and accountable with the aim of addressing global challenges more effectively.
The Nordic states of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland have reported increased trade with India in recent years, accompanied by a swelling Indian diaspora. Interestingly, Finland and Norway share borders with Russia and have lately witnessed increasing tensions with Moscow over the Ukraine war.
The first India-Nordic Summit was held in Stockholm in April 2018. The second summit was scheduled to take place in June 2021, but was postponed amid Covid-19 fears. The significance of this event can be assessed from the fact that the United States is the only other country with which the Nordic countries have summit-level engagement.
(with inputs from PTI)
