India, Norway elevate ties to Green Strategic Partnership as PM Modi highlights expanding cooperation
By Aroonim Bhuyan
New Delhi/Oslo, May 18. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 18 announced the elevation of India-Norway relations to a Green Strategic Partnership following talks with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Støre in Oslo, outlining an ambitious roadmap spanning clean energy, maritime cooperation, research, space and Arctic engagement.
Addressing a joint media briefing, Modi thanked the Norwegian leadership for the warm welcome and extended greetings to the people of Norway on the occasion of Constitution Day. He also expressed gratitude for Norway’s solidarity with India after last year’s terrorist attack in Pahalgam, which had led to the postponement of his earlier visit.
The Prime Minister said that despite global instability and ongoing conflicts in regions such as Ukraine and West Asia, India and Europe were entering what he described as a “new golden era” of engagement. He highlighted the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement signed between India and the European Free Trade Association as a key framework for shared prosperity between India and Norway. The agreement aims to attract $100 billion in investment into India and generate one million jobs over the next 15 years, with both sides taking steps to translate these commitments into concrete outcomes.
Modi said the newly announced Green Strategic Partnership would bring together India’s scale and talent with Norway’s technology and capital to develop global solutions in areas ranging from climate resilience and clean energy to the blue economy and green shipping.
He underlined the growing role of research, education and innovation in bilateral ties, noting expanded cooperation in sustainability, ocean energy, geology and health. Plans were also discussed to link universities and startup ecosystems in areas such as engineering, artificial intelligence, cyber and digital technologies, along with enhanced collaboration in skill development and talent mobility.
Highlighting Norway’s importance in the Arctic, Modi thanked Oslo for its support to India’s Arctic research station, Himadri. He also pointed to a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Norwegian Space Agency as opening fresh avenues for space cooperation, particularly in climate and ecosystem research.
Welcoming Norway’s decision to join the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, Modi said both countries, as major maritime nations, would step up cooperation in marine economy, maritime security and capacity building. He also referred to a new triangular development partnership aimed at supporting countries of the Global South through India’s digital public infrastructure initiatives.
Both leaders, he said, shared a commitment to a rules-based international order, dialogue and diplomacy, and agreed that conflicts cannot be resolved through military means. Modi reiterated the need for reform of global institutions and a shared resolve to combat terrorism in all its forms.
Summing up, the Prime Minister said India-Norway cooperation was expanding across new frontiers – from the Arctic to outer space and from green shipping to food and energy security – expressing confidence that the Green Strategic Partnership would usher in a long-term, future-oriented phase in bilateral relations.
