Round The World
New Delhi, 15 October
2021
Danish PM
Visit
ENLARGING
PARTNERSHIP
By Dr D.K.
Giri
(Prof.
International Relations, JIMMC)
Prime Minister of
Denmark Ms. Mette Frederiksen was in Delhi October 9 to 11. In fact, this was
the first visit by a foreign Head of Government to New Delhi after Covid-19
pandemic. Interestingly, the visit did
not attract much media attention although there were large hoardings put across
the city. This may be for two reasons. One, Denmark is a tiny country
population wise, of 5.8 million. Second, New Delhi and Copenhagen have had a
rough patch in the bilateralism due to the controversial arms drop case.
However, the Danish
Prime Minister considered New Delhi visit as a big milestone for the relations
between the two countries. She said in one of the functions organised in her
honour, “We consider India as a close partner. I see this visit as a milestone
for Denmark-India bilateral relations. Again, speaking at the ceremonial welcome
at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Frederiksen stated that she views Indian government
being ambitious on the issue of green transition in India and the rest of the
world.
In fact, the evolving
partnership between India and Denmark is said to be a green partnership. The
focus was on building green technology, green jobs and a green economy. The
discussion centred on review in the progress in green strategic partnership,
which was set up during the virtual summit held a year ago in September 2020.
Prime Minister Modi said that, “A year ago today we took the historic decision
to establish a green strategic partnership between India and Denmark. This is a
sign of far reaching thinking and respect for the environment by both the
countries. The Danish Prime Minister complemented it, “The cooperation between
India and Denmark is a great example of how green growth and green transition
can go hand in hand.”
Interestingly, both
countries realise the possibility of synergy in green economy between two
countries. The Danish Prime Minister underlined that Denmark has skills in the
field of green technologies, whereas India has the scale to use these for the
benefit of a population of more than a billion. Both delegations were high on
the five-year action plan agreed to take forward the one of its kind green
strategic partnership. The plan, 2021-26 aims to consolidate low carbon growth
emphasises on sectors like RE, water, Climate Action, Circular Economy, smart
cities, maritime cooperation, food and agriculture and health and life science.
Actually, it covers everything under the sun.
Having said the
above, India and Denmark have strong trade and investment cooperation. There
are more than 200 Danish companies working in different sectors and over 60
Indian companies presenting Denmark. Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed
that he had a fruitful talk with his Danish counterpart for the sake of
expanding the cooperation. They covered a range of key areas, including health,
agriculture, water management, climate change and of course, renewable energy.
Customarily, India
and Denmark signed four agreements, which will provide for deepening of
cooperation in the areas of science and technology, climate change, and skill building.
The first agreement was signed between Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research and National Geographical Research Institute, Hyderabad with Aarhus
University, Denmark and Geographical Survey of Denmark and Greenland. The
second agreement on traditional knowledge was inked between CSIR, India and the
Danish Patent and Trademark Office.
The third MoU
involves the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and Danfoss Industries Pvt
Ltd. The objective here is to establish a centre of excellence towards natural
refrigerants for tropical climates. Finally, the fourth agreement is the Joint
letter of Intent between the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship, Govt of India and Govt of Kingdom of Denmark. The projects under
these agreements also included aim at building an efficient supply chain, smart
water resource management and increasing agriculture productivity in India.
What is of interest
is that Copenhagen committed to increase the climate financing. It has promised
that Denmark will contribute more than 1 per cent ofthe US $100 billion per
annum commitment made under the Paris Agreement. It is in line with Denmark’s
policy of extending development aid to the poor and developing countries. One
of the big development organisations, Humana People to People, India, is
working in rural areas of India in the field of education and employment.
In the past, Denmark
supported India by supplying dairy products during the food crisis faced by the
latter. Denmark is an important member of the European Union and so, bulk of
its aid is rooted through the European Union organisations. Denmark also is a
part of small but economically powerful Nordic countries comprising Sweden,
Norway, Denmark, Finland and Island. These countries work as a group in India
to coordinate their political engagement and development cooperation.
The Ambassadors of
the Nordic countries mentioned above visit development hotspots in India. In
one such visit to poverty-stricken Kalahandi district in Orissa, I was
escorting them around. Their focus on development, mainly on eradication of
poverty and hunger is remarkable. The Nordic countries also known as
Scandinavian countries are largely progressive and pro-development. Let us
remember that the Noble peace prize, the biggest civilian prize in the world is
given by Sweden and Norway. If Denmark has led on green and agriculture
technology, Norway has led on peace building across the world. Their role in
Sri Lanka is noteworthy, so is the role played by Denmark in building democracy
in Nepal. Sweden has had the longest social democratic domination in politics.
The point of
highlighting the USPs of this Scandinavian countries including Denmark is to
nudge South Block to develop deeper partnership with them. New Delhi tends to
be guided by its security imperatives in its foreign policy. That is why the
focus on Russia, China and Pakistan. But the established strategy in
international diplomacy is that a country needs to have a strong economy and
sound development to be able to play a viable role. India has suffered from
this mismatch between its economy, and development on the one hand and its
ambitious foreign policy on the other.
New Delhi must take a
cue from the Scandinavian countries in formulating its development strategies.
So any visit by the leaders of these countries should be taken seriously, which
brings me to my despair mentioned earlier on that the visit of the Danish Prime
Minister did not receive as much attention as it deserved. Dealing with
countries like Denmark requires a radical shift in our foreign policy, from
security to development and progress. In that sense, a visit of the Danish
Prime Minister should prompt discussion and rethinking in our foreign policy
discourse. –INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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