Bilateral talks were held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finnish President Alexander Stubb at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Thursday. In this meeting, both the countries decided to take their relations to a new height and convert it into a strategic partnership. In a joint press statement after the meeting, Prime Minister Modi said that India and Finland will take forward their cooperation by keeping areas like digitalization and sustainability at the center. He said that this partnership will accelerate cooperation in many high-tech areas.
Cooperation will increase in high-tech sector
Prime Minister Modi said that both the countries will work together in areas like Artificial Intelligence, 6G telecom, clean energy and quantum computing. Apart from this, it has also been agreed to increase cooperation in the fields of defence, space, semiconductor and important minerals. He said that a trusted partnership between democratic countries like India and Finland will help in strengthening the global supply chain and making the technology ecosystem secure.
Cooperation in many areas already
The Prime Minister said that cooperation is already going on between the two countries in many areas. The technology of Finnish telecom company Nokia has played an important role in connecting crores of people in India with mobile and network connectivity. Apart from this, Finland has also had technical participation in the construction of the world’s highest railway bridge on the Chenab River and the world’s largest refinery project to make bioethanol from bamboo in Numaligarh, Assam.
Discussion on global issues also
Prime Minister Modi said that at present the world is going through many uncertainties and conflicts. There is an atmosphere of tension from Ukraine to West Asia. At such a time, strong relations between India and Europe are important for global stability and development. He also said that the proposed Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union will further strengthen trade, investment and technical cooperation, which will also strengthen the economic relations between India and Finland.
During this, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar also met President Stubb, while the President of Finland went to Rajghat and paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Experts believe that this visit will give a new direction to the relations between India and Finland and India’s cooperation with Europe and Nordic countries will be further strengthened.