New Delhi [India], November 23: Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik on Thursday hailed the bilateral relationship with India and said that he sees the world’s largest democracy as ‘fundamental’ to progress in the most important issues.
He underlined, that to find any global solution to any international issue without India being part of that solution, is “impossible.”
“We see India as fundamental in order to progress the most important issues of our time, namely, of combating climate change, extending multilateralism, finding solutions which are anchored in international law. And as I’ve said, repeatedly, when I’ve been meeting with my counterpart from various ministries, it’s impossible, I think, to find any global solutions to any international issue without India being part of that solution”, said the Deputy Foreign Minister.
Further speaking about the current Norway-India partnership and what opportunities he envisions for further strengthening this partnership, the minister called India a “vital partner” and that these two countries are equally committed to finding solutions.
“India, for us is a vital partner and a partner that we’re very committed to engaging on a whole host of issues. And my meetings over the course of these last two days have reaffirmed our commitment. And it has also made it clear to me that India is equally committed to finding solutions and building strong and resilient partnerships with the Norwegian”, said the Minister.
Talking further about the India-Nordic summit, Andreas Motzfeldt said that the summit ‘is a testament to our respective government even as we see our partnership go forward.’
He said, “It is critical that the summit is a forum to convene our representatives from the business sector, the scientific community and various governmental agencies so you have different perspectives, you have different individuals who come together to find solutions in order to move forward…”
On High-level visits, Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik revealed that the Norwegian Foreign Minister has invited his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to visit Oslo. The Minister also hoped to see the Indian Prime Minister at the Nordic-India summit that is expected to be held next year.
“My Foreign Minister has invited his counterpart EAM S Jaishankar to Oslo. We are hoping to see EAM Jaishankar in the future hopefully sometime at the turn of the year. The Nordic-India Summit will take place sometime after summer or in the fall and we hope to see the Indian Prime Minister being represented at that meeting”, said the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister.
Speaking on how he sees India as a market, the Minister said that according to him, engaging with the Indian market is not only important for economic reasons but also for political reasons and that Norway sees India as a ‘bridge builder’.
“India as a market will be interesting. I think for not only governments but also for private business sectors and also for for other stakeholders. So, it’s important for everyone, I think, to try to engage the Indian market and we’re committed to that, but not only for economic reasons, but primarily, perhaps for political reasons”, said the minister.
“We see India as a bridge builder towards a more prosperous future, based on multilateralism and based on international law, and we’re determined to maintain and advance our very good relationship with India”, he added.
Kravik highlighted a greater Indian footprint in Norway and said that his country is taking all opportunities to attract more Indians and Indian companies to Norway.
“We are very committed to seeing a greater Indian footprint in the region. We have lots of Indian companies present in Norway already. And we have lots of Indians present in Norway. I think that figure is close to 25,000 Indians in Norway. And they do very important work in various parts of our economy, especially in the IT sector. And we want to see, as I said, a greater Indian footprint in our economy”, said the minister.
“We are taking all opportunities in order to try to attract more Indians and Indian companies to come to Norway and perform good work. And that’s also one of the reasons why we’re prioritizing meetings such as this summit that I just attended because we see them as good springboards for attracting Indians and Indian companies to come to Norway,” he added.
