NEW DELHI: India and Finland with their complementary skills can work together and find common solutions to many global challenges and bring several positive outcomes, said a visiting Finnish minister on Tuesday.
"We can find several positive outcomes in the areas of digitisation, education, sustainability and innovation (DESI) between Finland and India," Finland’s Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Tavio told The New Indian Express.
Tavio said that his visit to India has been the longest ever he has taken out of Finland which demonstrates the value of trade between the two countries.
"I have come with a delegation of representatives of companies which includes mostly technology companies, some are offering green solutions. At the Nordic Baltic convention, we also networked politically and I met Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. You may be aware that there are many Finnish companies in India including Kone which makes elevators and Nokia which is a telecom service provider. Similarly, there are many Indian companies in Finland. We also hope that the India EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) concludes soon as it would be mutually beneficial for all countries involved," Tavio said.
Finland is also looking at supporting sustainability projects which turn waste into energy in India. They are seeking collaborations with start-ups.
Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that the proposed FTA agreements with the EU and four nation EFTA group (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) are doable but they should keep in mind India’s interests.
"We are in an active dialogue with the EU and EFTA for a FTA. I do believe that both these are eminently doable and will significantly help us expand our engagement not only in trade in goods and services but also in investments, technology, tourism, innovation and clean energy," said Goyal while speaking at the Nordic Baltic conference.
The Nordic region includes Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland while the Baltic states include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.