EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
THE AMBASSADOR DIARIES
INDIA-NORDIC PARTNERSHIP AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME
BY THE ANANTA ASPEN CENTRE INDIA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE , NEW DELHI 28TH JUNE , 2018
The Ananta Aspen Centre , an independent organisation focused on leadership development and encouraging comprehensive dialogue on the most important issues facing Indian society , invited the ambassadors and head of missions of the five Nordic countries to India - Norway , Iceland , Denmark , Finland and Sweden - to discuss and provide their inputs on the theme of ' India-Nordic Partnership : An Idea Whose Time Has Come ' in an event hosted at the India International Centre in New Delhi on 28 June 2018 .
Mr . Ashok Sajjanhar , President of the Institute of Global Studies and former Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan , Sweden and Latvia , chaired the event . Mr . Sajjanhar began the event by welcoming the panellists and providing a brief overview of India-Nordic relations in the context of recent developments , including the first India-Nordic Summit which was held in Stockholm in April 2018 , where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Nordic counterparts for a full day of bilateral and multilateral talks . Given India ' s substantial role in the world economy , having consistently experienced a GDP growth rate of over 7 percent , as well as the growing demands of its over 1 billion strong population , there is a lot that the five Nordic countries with their vast expertise in the areas of innovative and clean technologies , green energy , waste management and digitisation can offer to the former as it continues to solidify its place as a leading power in the global arena . While India ' s ties with this bloc of countries has been growing , it has yet to reach its full potential in terms of realising the wide array of possibilities that exist therein .
Over the course of the two-hour event , the five panellists - H . E . Mr . Thorir Ibsen , Ambassador of Iceland to India ;
62 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 7 • July 2018 , Noida