India and Denmark agree to strengthen ties, diversify trade engagements

India and Denmark held their Foreign Office Consultations in Copenhagen on Saturday and reviewed comprehensively their bilateral relations and exchanged views on multilateral and regional issues of mutual interests.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, during the FOCs, the two sides acknowledged that bilateral relations have grown significantly and have benefited from the signing of the first-of-its-kind Green Strategic Partnership in September 2020.

Discussions were held on progress made to implement the Joint Action Plan and sectoral cooperation in the areas of Renewable Energy including Offshore Wind, Water Management, Smart Cities, Green Shipping, Health, Dairy and Animal Husbandry, the Ministry said

Both sides noted the progress on the setting up of the Smart Laboratory on Clean River Water in Varanasi, the MEA maintained.

The two sides appreciated that bilateral trade in goods and services had exceeded US$ 6.64 billion in 2022 and agreed to diversify their trade and investment, the Ministry added.

Over 200 Danish companies are present in India and have been working in various areas such as wind energy, shipping, consultancy, food processing and the engineering sector while around 60 Indian companies, mainly in the IT, life sciences and clean-tech, renewable energy and engineering sectors, have a growing presence in Denmark.

The two sides exchanged views on Multilateral and Regional issues including co-operation at the UN, Climate Change, G20 Presidency of India, India-EU Free Trade Agreement, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific, the MEA said.

Discussions were also held on cooperation in the Arctic Region, the Ministry added.

The consultations were co-chaired by Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) and Jesper Møller Sørensen, State Secretary for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark.

The last round of FOC took place in 2009 at New Delhi.

The two sides agreed to continue high level political exchanges and to hold the next round of the Joint Commission Meeting at Foreign Minister’s level in New Delhi at mutually convenient dates.

There have been several high-level engagements between India and Denmark in recent years. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Denmark last year in May 2022.

The Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of the Kingdom of Denmark had recently visited India from 26 February - 2 March 2023. Prime Minister Frederiksen paid a State Visit to India in October 2021, being the first Head of Government to visit India since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic.

The talks were held in a friendly and warm atmosphere. It was agreed to hold political consultations at regular intervals.