Geopolitics has changed since last India-Nordic Summit, conflicts on agenda for talks: Norwegian envoy

It has been 43 years since the last Indian Prime Minister visited Norway on a bilateral visit. Tell me about the significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit and some of the major outcomes you expect.

We are also eagerly awaiting Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Oslo for the third India-Nordic Summit. The last one happened four years ago (2022) in Copenhagen (Denmark). The world has changed a lot since then. So, all five Scandinavian countries are looking forward to discussing geopolitical issues with the North Korean leader. [world’s] It is the most populous country and there will also be a lot of discussion about climate, green future, sustainability and how we look forward, how we work closely together as democracies.

How do you see the course of the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran in bilateral talks and do you expect concrete results in terms of statements regarding both conflicts?

Well, when Prime Minister Modi lands in Oslo, there will be a bilateral visit on the first day and these issues you mentioned will definitely be discussed and I expect statements to be made on these issues. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is of course a very important issue for Norway because we are also neighbors to Russia and the conflict in the Middle East affects us all, as you said, it also affects our energy security. Norway is an energy superpower. We are a small country but we are a major oil and gas provider to Europe and we will also look at some discussions about how we can get more gas to India.

You already made a delivery last week. Do you see a greater dialogue between India and Norway on energy?

We are increasingly discussing what we can do together on energy, and we expect business-to-business memorandums of understanding on the energy side as well. [during the visit]. A major LNG delivery to India took place last week and is part of a 15-year agreement [signed] They will continue to deliver LNG to India, which will also power fertilizer production by our largest energy company Equinor (and Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals Corp-DFCPL) last year.

While Norway is talking about supplying energy to India, do you hope that India will reduce its energy purchases? Currently, India’s largest supplier is Russia. From the US perspective, sanctions exemptions for Russian oil expired this weekend. Do you expect India to change its position?

Well, we will discuss these issues with India and of course we understand the needs of the world’s fastest growing major economy. So these issues will definitely be discussed and what will be the outcome afterwards, which I cannot say exactly at the moment.