External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that India has put in place institutional frameworks for closer business-to-business collaboration and has sought investments from Nordic-Baltic countries in the development of ports, renewable energy, food processing, and fisheries.
Addressing the India Nordic Baltic Business Conclave here, Jaishankar also stated that India has just opened embassies in Tallinn and Vilnius and that an embassy in Latvia will be established very soon.
Jaishankar went on to say that India has set up an ambitious objective of 450 gigawatts by 2030, and has planned port-led development encompassing over 600 projects under the Sagarmala program and that the food processing sector has the potential to attract USD 33 billion over the next decade.
“So these offer real opportunities for the NB8 (Nordic-Baltic) countries for investment, for trade, and for tech collaboration and exchange of mutual expertise and best practices. The growth of fisheries, too, is a domain of natural collaboration”, Jaishankar continued.
According to the minister, India’s combined trade in products with the NB8 countries will be over USD 7.3 billion in 2022-23, while the total FDI received from Nordic countries since 2000 will be around USD 4.69 billion.
He stated that more than 700 Nordic companies have a foothold in India, while close to 150 Indian companies have their presence there.
“So this is the economic baseline on which we need to build further”, Jaishankar went on to say.
He stated that India’s skill pool, digital adoption, and start-up ecosystem complement the Baltic region’s leadership in e-governance, digital innovation, supply chain management, and other frontier industries.
“As open economies, they have adopted a model of a responsive government, a prudent fiscal policy, a favorable investment climate, and flexible labor markets, hence a natural synergy to expand and deepen our relationship further with this region”, Jaishankar continued.
Jaishankar stated that India’s space program has created new chances for partnership with the NB8 group.
“Given the fast-transforming nature of space technology, the significance of launching sites in the Arctic region and commercialization of space and geospatial sectors in India can boost public-private collaboration”, Jaishankar added.
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