Highlights of First India and Nordic-Baltic Conclave.

The first India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave was held virtually on November 5, 2020. The conclave was represented by External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar from Indian Side.

Highlights

The Conclave was hosted by Ministry of External Affairs and Confederation of Indian Industry jointly. The primary focus of the Conclave was on Artificial Intelligence, clean technologies, renewable energies, supply chain logistics and block chain led transformation.

About Nordic-Baltic

The Nordic Baltic includes eight countries namely, Norway, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Iceland and Lithuania. Among these eight countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are the Baltic countries. These three fast growing economies are located in the Baltic sea. While the countries like Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Iceland are called the Nordic countries.

Significance of Baltic Countries

• Lithuania- It has got high expertise in LASER technology. The LASER related products forms the important part of Lithuania’s trade with India.
• Latvia – It is geopolitically important to India. The country is linked with the The Amber Way” which was earlier used to transport amber from the coastal regions of Baltic Sea and North Sea to the Mediterranean Sea in ancient time. Further, Latvia connects the Baltic region with the rest of Europe, Russia and Central Asia. Thus, the country makes the Indian exports reach these markets easily.
• Estonia- The country is home to NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Thus, it could help India in the field of cyber security.

Significance of Nordic Countries

India’s trade with the Nordic countries stands at around USD 5.3 billion as of 2017. Also, the Cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to India stands at USD 2.5 billion. India and Nordic countries could cooperate in the fields of Innovation, R&D, Economical and technological advancement and in Fishing sector from storing, to refrigerating, to marketing and to exporting.