Danish PM to visit India, hold talks with PM Modi to sign Green Strategic Partnership

New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) The Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen will pay a three-day state visit to India from October 9 for holding bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which the two sides will review the progress in implementation of their unique ‘Green Strategic Partnership’.

During her visit, Prime Minister Frederiksen will call on President Ram Nath Kovind, and also interact with think tanks, students and members of civil society.

India-Denmark bilateral relations are marked by regular high level exchanges and are based on historical links, common democratic traditions and a shared desire for regional as well as international peace and stability, an official statement said.

During the Virtual Summit held on September 28, last year, India and Denmark had established a ‘Green Strategic Partnership’, the only country with which India has such a partnership.

The visit by Mette Frederiksen will give both sides an opportunity to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations and review the progress in implementation of the ‘Green Strategic Partnership’. Both sides will also discuss regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest, the statement said.

The visit of the Danish PM comes a month after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Copenhagen during which he held talks with his Danish counterpart, and the two sides added an 11th working group – on health — to the 10 they already have.

Jaishankar’s visit to Copenhagen was the first by an Indian foreign minister in 20 years.

During his visit, Jaishankar co-chaired the fourth round of the Indo-Danish Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) with his Danish counterpart Jeppe Kofod to take forward the unique bilateral Green Strategic Partnership.

Speaking after the meeting, the Danish Foreign Minister Kofod termed India as a “close and important friend of Denmark”.

He said that both leaders took stock of the implementation of the bilateral Green Strategic Partnership “and reconfirmed our commitment to an ambitious five-year action plan”.

“I am very pleased to see concrete results and progress in our collaboration and we have formally agreed to launch collaboration in the health sector, wind and water– those are two of the key words from today’s visit,” the Danish minister said.

Jaishankar said the bilateral joint action plan had delivered even in the middle of Covid. “Again as you’ve just heard we had 10 working groups in our joint commission. We just added an 11th one, one on health. Its relevance is obvious given the context of the Covid,” he said.

Jaishankar also said that what is unique about India-Denmark relations is that “Denmark is the only country with which we have a green strategic partnership.”

“And the way we look at it, you know, everybody says build back better, but we also want to grow back greener. And in growing back greener, we think Denmark is a very, very unique partner, because you have strengths and experiences and best practices which are enormously helpful for a country like India at this stage of its development.”
Jaishankar had called on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during the visit, and also met the five CEOs of top Danish companies — Grundfos, Vestas, Maersk, Haldor, Topsoe and CIP.

India and Denmark have strong trade and investment ties. More than 200 Danish companies are present in India and over 60 Indian companies have a presence in Denmark. There exists strong collaboration in the fields of renewable energy, clean technologies, water and waste management, agriculture and animal husbandry, science & technology, digitisation including ICT, smart cities, shipping, etc.

The visit of the Prime Minister of Denmark is expected to further strengthen and enhance the close and friendly ties between India and Denmark, the statement added.