India and Finland on Thursday agreed to double the bilateral trade to $ 2.6 billion in the next five years, on the back of opportunities offered by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA between India and the European Union.
During the state visit of president of Finland Alexander Stubb to India, the announcement of
elevation of India – Finland bilateral relations to “Strategic Partnership in Digitalization and Sustainability”.
The Memorandum of Understanding was also signed on Migration and Mobility Partnership. “It is expected to provide enhanced access for Indian students, including internships and post-study employment opportunities,” Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs Sibi George said at a briefing.
Driving Economic Growth
It is also expected to facilitate mobility of talent, including professionals, students, entrepreneurs, researchers and academics, he added. At present there are more than 20,000 Indian professionals working in Finland.
Both sides agreed to take the steps required for the implementation of the MoU in a comprehensive and coordinated manner that serves both India’s and Finland’s prosperity and economic growth, a joint statement after the conclusion of the New Delhi leg of Stubbs’s India’s visit. He will be in Mumbai on Friday and participate in a business event. A sizable Finnish business delegation is accompanying the visiting leader.
Tech Frontiers
On strategic partnership in digitisation, he said Finland’s advanced capabilities align well with India’s transformation initiatives.
“In this regard both sides have set up a cross-sectoral joint working group on digitisation to advance cooperation in new and emerging technologies such as 5G and 6G, quantum communications, high performance and quantum computing and artificial intelligence among others,” George said. “A joint task force on 6G has also been created to further expand collaboration in the emerging field.”
The leaders also took note of the cooperation framework between Bharat 6G Alliance and the University of Oulu, Finland, welcoming all efforts to further strengthen bilateral collaboration on 6G.
In the field of advanced technology, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Stubbs also highlighted Space tech as an emerging area of collaboration with considerable future potential and active private sector engagement between Indian and Finnish players.
India’s experience in Digital Public Infrastructure, including digital payments such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) came up in the discussions and it was decided to explore possibilities for cooperation in this area .
Finland’s globally recognised expertise in clean technologies, renewable energy and sustainable urban solutions makes it a natural partner of India.
During the visit both sides renewed the MoU on Environmental Cooperation to further the cooperation on sustainability and circular technology, including waste-to-energy solutions, power storage, green hydrogen wind solar and small hydro power. India and Finland will be hosting the World Circular Economy Forum in India later this year.
The leaders welcomed the growing startup collaboration, manifested by the active participation of innovative Indian startups in Slush in Helsinki and Finnish startups in Startup Mahakumbh in New Delhi, as well as initiatives such as the Indo-Finland Startup Corridor, the joint statement said.
The visit also saw MoU for cooperation in the field of statistics which provides a framework for exchange of best practices, methodologies, and technical expertise in the area of official statistics.