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On March 3, 2025, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) hosted a talk by the Ambassador of Norway to India Amb. Ms. May-Elin Stener on India-Norway collaboration on Climate Change, Arctic, Maritime, and Sustainable Blue Economy. She spoke on how India’s engagement with Norway could be transformational while enabling greater Indian participation in the Arctic Council, touching upon the upcoming third India-Nordic Summit and how it could facilitate deeper India-Norway bilateral relations. She also touched upon the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement. The session was chaired by Dr. Arvind Gupta and attended by Air Marshal Rajesh Kumar, Rear Admiral TVN Prasanna, Amb. D.P. Srivastava, Dr. Vijay Kumar, Dr. Uttam Kumar Sinha, Dr. J.R. Bhatt, Dr. J. Jeganaathan, Dr. Asma Kouser, Mr. Dhaval Lakhani, and Mr. Aman Kumar. The session was also attended by Lt. Gen. Sawhney, Capt. Anurag Bisen, Brig. Vinod Anand, Mr. Sudhir Saxena, Ms. Ruchita Beri, and other colleagues from VIF.

Salient Points of the Discussion

• Amb. Stener began her talk with the assessment that although India and Norway are two very different countries, they support the same values and thus, the India-Norway relations have so many complexities. She reiterated EAM S. Jaishankar’s statement on India-Norway relations to be “Green, Clean, and Human Centric.”
• Norway wants to support India’s economic growth in a sustainable way. To this effect, Norway can contribute in knowledge as well technology transfer, in addition to collaboration on green and clean energy and the maritime and blue economy- shipping and fisheries.
• The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership is likely to be ratified by the Norwegian Parliament this month, which would facilitate Norway’s growing economic relations with India. With the rise of Norwegian businesses in India, there has also been a significant increase in portfolio investment, which has doubled since 2020.
• The Arctic Council is very much alive with several active technical working groups on climate change and protection of the Arctic. While Norway holds the Chair of the Arctic Council from 2023-2025, Norway continues to highly value the India-Norway cooperation on the Arctic. The focus must be shifted on how to protect the Arctic for the rest of the globe.
• In context of the Russia-Ukraine War, Norway views it as a Russian invasion of sovereign Ukraine and a breach of international law. Norway shares a peaceful border with Russia, but continues to stand by Ukraine. Norway is clear that Ukraine is the invaded party and must be a part of any peace negotiations. Europe has been stepping up in its support to Ukraine and will continue to do so.