India and Denmark on Saturday decided to continue expanding the scope of their cooperation so as to include newer areas such as health, smart water resource management, efficient supply chains and agriculture related technology.

This was decided at a bilateral face-to-face meeting between the visiting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital.

The visit of Danish Prime Minister — her first visit to India— is also significant as she is the first Head of State/Government to be hosted by India after a gap of 20 months post the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.

“Before the onset of the corona pandemic, Hyderabad House was a regular witness to the reception of Heads of Government and Heads of State. However, for the past 18-20 months this practice came to a halt. I am pleased that today a new beginning has been made with the visit of the Danish Prime Minister,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a joint press conference with the visiting dignitary.

Pact signed

On the occasion, both sides signed several memorandum of understandings (MoUs).

An MoU between Infosys Technologies and Aarhus University to establish a ‘Centre of Excellence for sustainability solutions’ based in Denmark was also announced.

During the meeting MoU was announced between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, Aarhus University, Denmark and Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland on mapping of ground water resources and aquifers.

In addition to this, another MoU was also announced between Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and Danfoss Industries Private Limited to establish a Centre of Excellence towards natural refrigerants for tropical climates with potential applications.

Modi highlighted that India is not new for Danish companies, many of whom have been working in India for a long time in areas like energy, food processing, logistics , infrastructure, machinery and software etc.

“Danish expertise and Danish technology can play a very important role in the scale and speed with which we want to move forward, and in our vision for India’s progress. The reforms in the Indian economy, especially the steps taken in the manufacturing sector, are facilitating immense opportunities for companies. In today's meeting, we also discussed about some such opportunities,” said Modi.

Both leaders on Saturday reviewed the progress made under the Green Strategic Partnership — announced a year ago at a virtual Summit. “Today we not only reviewed the progress made under this partnership, but also reiterated our commitment to increasing cooperation on climate change in the near future,” Modi said.

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