Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Fredriksen arrived in New Delhi on Oct 9th on a three-day visit becoming the first head of the state to visit India since February 2020. Fredriksen’s visit has been a curtain raiser to the in-person diplomatic visits of leaders which have been largely derailed by the Wuhan virus pandemic.
Envisioning a new directionality to the Indo-Danish
relations, in September 2020, PM Modi and PM Fredriksen launched “Green
Strategic Partnership” between the two countries virtually. India’s commitment
to the climate change finds greater congruence with Denmark’s conviction
environment. Together both the leaders have agreed to strengthen cooperation in
green sectors.
Indeed, the genesis of this partnership can be traced
back to the proposal mooted by the Joint Commission Meetings (JCM) initiated in
2008. Thus far, both countries held four such meeting; the initial two meetings
in 2008 and 2010 respectively in New Delhi and the third meeting was held
virtually in 2020. The 4th meeting held in Denmark was attended by
EAM Jaishankar on September 5th. Jaishankar eventually laid ground
for the bilateral summit meet.
Days after 4th JCM, a large business
contingent led by Danish Minister for Climate, Dan Jorgensen visited India and
met Tamil Nādu Chief Minister Stalin to finalise the plans for setting up a $
5-10 billion Energy Island, a floating Wind Park at Gulf of Mannar to generate
4-10 GW of power. As part of Green Strategic Partnership, 2020, India and
Denmark shortlisted Gujarat and Tamil Nādu for developing an Energy Island that
can become local hub for manufacturing wind turbines. Copenhagen delegation
found Tamil Nādu to be a viable option and set up a Centre of Excellence for
Offshore Wind1.
Denmark is the leading country in wind power
generation and produces close to 50% of its electricity from wind. India’s
renewed interest in collaborating with Denmark stems from its set target of 450
GW from renewable energy by 2030. India’s current renewable energy portfolio
stands at 146 GW. In keeping with its commitments to the Paris Climate
Agreement, India, the only G 20 country is making fervent attempts to reduce
its reliance on the fossil fuels.
Clearly, green sector cooperation has become the
cornerstone for the Indo-Danish bilateral ties. Extending a traditional
reception to Danish counterpart, PM Modi received Fredriksen at the Rashtrapati
Bhavan and held bilateral talks at the historical Hyderabad House. Giving
massive fillip to this cooperation both leaders during their bilateral talks
welcomed a detailed Five Year Action Plan (2021-26) for the implementation of
the Green Strategic Partnership.
Underpinning the importance of green and low carbon
growth under the five year action plan, countries identified various sectors
for cooperation like- water, environment, renewable energy, climate action,
smart cities, trade and investments including cooperation on intellectual
property rights, maritime cooperation, food, agriculture, science, technology,
innovation and health.
Leaders evinced plans for commercial cooperation in
green technologies under the EU Horizons Program and Mission Innovation.
Clearly, Indo-Danish collaboration on green energy will be a major fillip to
Modi’s new mantra where environmental security is given equal emphasis as
national security. To realise climate targets Modi launched National Hydrogen
Mission.
In this context, it is interesting to recall that
India and Denmark are part of LeadIT (Leadership Group for Industry Transition)
that are committed to reaching net zero emission by 2050. Both countries have
agreed to cooperate on decarbonizing hard to abate sectors like (power,
housing, transport sectors). Expressing solidarity for a swift transition to a
sustainable future, India and Demark confirmed support to global climate change
actions pursued by Paris Agreement, UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and
agreed to work closely for the upcoming COP26 at UK.
Denmark attaches special prominence to SDGs. In an
effort to bring youth across the world to collaborate on ideas and solutions
for SDGs Denmark launched UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab in 2017. First edition was held in 2018 at Singapore
and it moved to Shenzhen, China in 2019. The next edition is now set to be
unveiled at Bengaluru2 in 2022. Under the ambit of the Green Strategic
Partnership, India and Demark are cooperating on sustainable water supply as
well.
Leaders oversaw the exchange of four MoUs on mapping
of ground water resources, traditional knowledge access, establishing Centre of
Excellence towards natural refrigerants and skill development. Besides,
Reliance Industries Limited, Infosys and Observer Research Foundation signed
MoU on development of hydrogen analyzer, Centre of Excellence for
Sustainability solution and Knowledge-sharing with Denmark partners3.
Other important aspects that featured the bilateral
talks include the need to establish globally beneficial vaccine partnerships,
mutual recognition of vaccination certificates to ease travel, reiterated need
for multilateral cooperation to combat pandemics and Afghanistan crisis.
Denmark congratulated India on its successful UNSC presidency, extended support
for its permanent membership to the reformed and expanded UNSC.
EU’s Indo-Pacific policy too figured in the
discussion. Being democratic countries both India and Denmark strongly advocate
rules-based order, freedom of navigation and accord highest priority to peace
and stability in the Indo-Pacific which has turned into theatre for global
contestations.
India’s ties with Denmark took a hit over Denmark’s
refusal to extradite Kim Davy, wanted in the Puralia Arms Drop case of 1995.
Bilateral ties remain frozen since 2010 after Denmark reversed its decision.
Ahead of the Fredriksen’s visit, in response to a query, MEA spokesperson
indicated that India hasn’t buried Davy’s case and assured that the issue will
be pursued.
Breaking the impasse, invoking on an unprecedented
outreach, during his first term, PM Modi visited many countries and attempted
to diversify India’s ties. As a part of this extensive diplomatic engagement,
he resurrected relationships with European nations.
PM Modi attended the Nordic-India summit in April 2018
and discussed ways to improve ties with Denmark after a gap of 9 years.
Subsequently, promoting government to government cooperation, both countries
signed four MoUs in the fields of animal husbandry, sustainable and smart urban
development, agricultural research and food security cooperation.
Sustaining the momentum, the following year, Danish
Prime Minister Lokke Rasmussen attended Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2019, where
Denmark was the partner country. PM Modi and his Danish counterpart held
bilateral talks along the sidelines of the summit4.
Amid the global flux and looming uncertainty
underscoring the importance of multipolar world, India ramped up ties with
nations other than its traditional partners.
Seizing the opportunity of burgeoning Sino-skepticism
and the abrasive trans-Atlantic ties, India adeptly focused on building
partnership with European countries. India’s centrality to Indo-Pacific
strategy is not lost on EU which has released a paper on the same that called
for diversification of ties with countries in South East Asia and India.
India’s rising profile is evident from the invitation
extended to it for the annual Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), held in Slovenia in
September. BSF, a key forum of European Foreign Ministers held discussions on
“Partnership for a rules-based order in Indo-Pacific”5. Given
India’s advocacy for rules-based order and alternate resilient supply chains in
the post-Covid world, countries are welcoming India’s presence in the continent
to counter China. After withholding the investment pact with China, EU resumed
engagement with India to revive negotiations on FTA.
Aside strategic and security interests, India is now
keen on partnering with countries with specific knowledge sets to address the
solutions for growing energy needs of burgeoning population for a sustainable
growth and development. Nordic countries, especially Denmark are known for their
expertise in renewable energy and sustainable development. Epitomising
Denmark’s sustainable future vision, Copenhagen is racing to become first
carbon-neutral city in the World by 2025.
Indeed, as Rahul Kamath remarks in his article6,
“green transition and climate action have become a major necessity” for
the long desired FTA between India and EU. He adds, Japan has clinched economic
partnership agreement with EU on the basis of its “Paris Agreement
commitments, sustainable forest management, conservation of biological
diversity and combatting illegal logging”.
Other than the green strategic agreement, India and
Denmark have significant economic ties with over 200 Danish companies operating
in India. Wary of China’s debt trap diplomacy, opaque operations and reciprocal
sanctions, India is now deemed to be a safe economic partner. Indeed, China’s
16+1 mechanism has created a vertical divide within the EU with countries like
Bulgaria, Czech, Slovakia pandering to Beijing and defying the EU.
India is slowly building partnership with various EU
members to expand its strategic map of maximizing its chances to consolidate a
strong partnership with EU and an FTA. In this process, New Delhi is seeking to
revive its political, economic and cultural relationships with European
countries. Above all, India shares Europe’s vision of multi-alignment and
strategic autonomy for a peaceful and stable world order.
Green Strategic Partnership envisaged in 2020 received
a fresh impetus with Fredriksen’s visit setting a stage for larger strategic
cooperation with the European Union.
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