India and Denmark decided to elevate their ties to a ‘Green Strategic Partnership’. The decision was taken at a virtual bilateral summit between PM Narendra Modi and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen.

Modi and Frederiksen noted the continued development of bilateral relations based on historical links, common democratic traditions and shared desire for regional, as well as international peace and stability.

Ambitious goals and actions will be identified and outlined in an action plan that will be worked out and endorsed as soon as possible.

What is meant by Green Strategic Partnership?

The Green Strategic Partnership is a mutually beneficial arrangement to advance political cooperation, expand economic relations and green growth, create jobs and strengthen cooperation on addressing global challenges and opportunities, with focus on an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Modi and Frederiksen acknowledged the importance of establishing the Green Strategic Partnership, under which India and Denmark will cooperate through relevant ministries, institutions and stakeholders.

This partnership would build on and consolidate the existing agreement establishing a Joint Commission for Cooperation (signed February 6, 2009) between India and Denmark which envisaged cooperation within the political field, economic and commercial field, science and technology, environment, energy, education and culture. 

In addition, it builds on and complements the existing joint working groups on renewable energy, urban development, environment, agriculture and animal husbandry, food processing, science, technology and innovation, shipping, labour mobility and digitisation.

Key points discussed during the virtual summit:

1) Multilateral Cooperation: The two sides agreed to join efforts and initiatives to support and promote a rule-based multilateral system. This includes strong multilateral cooperation to face the urgency to step up global efforts to combat the global challenges on energy and climate change and common commitment to the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the International Solar Alliance. 

Both leaders expressed their commitment for working towards an ambitious, fair, and mutually beneficial Trade and Investment Agreement between the EU and India to further strengthen and deepen the EU-India ties. 

They also agreed that the Arctic Cooperation within the framework of Arctic Council has a global dimension and is essential for addressing the need of environmental protection and combating climate change. In this spirit, both sides expressed their willingness for collaboration within the framework of the Arctic Council in the area of climate change.

2) Energy and Climate Change: Both countries have set very ambitious national targets on climate and energy that will contribute to an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement. The Strategic Sector Cooperation on offshore wind and renewable energy, as well as the India-Denmark Energy Partnership (INDEP) on capacity building, knowledge-sharing and technology transfer on wind energy, energy modeling and integration of renewable energy illustrate the shared commitment to address some of the common global challenges on the path towards global energy transition, green growth and sustainable development. The two sides envisage the energy partnership to be further strengthened over the coming years.

3) Environment/Water and Circular Economy: Both countries wish to enhance cooperation in the specific areas of water supply, water distribution, wastewater treatment, sewerage systems, re-use of treated wastewater, water management and energy optimisation in the water sector through the Indo-Danish Water Technology Alliance. 

They agreed to work towards further expanding and strengthening the existing government-to-government cooperation on environment/water and circular economy. 

Will also cooperate in water efficiency and non-revenue water (water loss) and in this context tasked the ministry of jal shakti and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food to develop a Work Plan for an initial period of three years (2021-23).

4) Sustainable Urban Development Including Smart Cities: Agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in sustainable urban development, including in smart cities through the Urban Living Lab in Goa. Both sides will strengthen existing city-to-city cooperation between Udaipur and Aarhus and Tumakuru and Aalborg. Danish companies are contributing to designing infrastructure projects in India. 

5) Trade and Shipping: India and Denmark confirmed the emerging cooperation in Intellectual Property Rights, which will help to modernise and strengthen their national intellectual property systems to promote innovation, creativity and technological advancement. 

Both sides appreciated the deep cooperation on maritime affairs and noted the potential for enhancing cooperation in ship-building and design, maritime services and green shipping, as well as port development.

6) Labour Mobility: Both sides agreed to examine the possibilities for labour mobility, as well as to consider ease of travel between the two countries to facilitate greater people-to-people interaction and strengthen cooperation in the tourism sector.

7) Health and Life Science: The leaders agreed to work on expanding commercial opportunities for businesses by creating more favorable environments for the life science sector, including research collaborations.

8) Science, Technology, Innovation and Digitisation: Collaboration in science, technology and innovation (STI) supports the Green Strategic Partnership by promoting and strengthening relations between authorities, small and large companies and research and higher education institutions in India and Denmark. The two sides recognised their shared interest in digitisation and digital solutions and business models in the green transition and decided to collaborate for enhancement of development, innovation and demonstration in the field of digital technologies to support green sustainable growth.

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