Norway supports India’s initiative on multilateralism & rule-based trade: Trade Minister

New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Norway’s Trade and Investment Minister Jan Christian Vestre has stated that his country fully supports India’s efforts in promoting multilateralism and a rules-based trade system.

The minister praised the Indian government’s leadership at the G-20 and highlighted the importance of continuing the process of globalization.

“That’s an initiative our government supports 100 per cent and we also appreciate your leadership at G-20 and that you are so focussed on multilateralism and that we need rules-based trade system,” Vestre said in an interview with PTI.

The Norwegian minister, who was here on a two-day visit to India last week, said that some countries are turning away from the path of globalization.

“We see now that some countries are turning in different directions but it is very important now that we continue this process of globalization free trade, sharing is caring and that will be beneficial for all of us so all the initiatives from the Indian side that can promote this approach to how should we organize our world will have full support from Norwegian side,” the minister emphasised.

He spoke highly of the 2nd India-Nordic summit which held last year, calling it a great success. He expressed pride in the joint statement made by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the five Nordic prime ministers, which he sees as a testament to the strong ties between the two regions.

“We really hope we can gather the prime ministers again, hopefully, next time in Norway, because another thing we will follow up on right now,” he added.

The minister stated that he feels that the ties have “never been stronger than now” and there is a huge momentum driving them forward with “more close cooperation” in various areas, including the maritime industry, hydrogen, renewable energy, batteries, rare earth minerals, technologies, and innovations.

Trade between India and Norway has doubled in the last three years, and the minister stated that there is huge potential for even more cooperation in the years to come.

“It is very important to connect companies from India with firms from Norway so that they can work more closely together, exploring new technologies, do common projects and there is a need to increase common investment. And there are a lot of things we can share such as competence, knowledge, and experience,” he underlined.

India and Norway have decided to follow up on their initiatives in the areas of fuel cell technologies, green ammonia, hydrogen, and charging infrastructure with “specific action plans,” with the aim of translating their discussions into tangible actions.