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OSLO — Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and the five Nordic prime ministers gathered at Oslo’s City Hall on Tuesday to elevate their partnership to a “Trusted Green Technology and Innovation Strategic Partnership” — a sweeping framework aimed at accelerating clean energy, digital innovation, and sustainable growth.

The 3rd India-Nordic Summit marked Modi’s first visit to Norway by an Indian prime minister in 43 years, following Indira Gandhi’s trip in 1983. The leaders underscored their shared democratic values while addressing global instability, climate change, and urgent multilateral reform.

The centrepiece of the summit was a decision to upgrade ties between India and the five Nordic nations — Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden — into a Green Technology and Innovation Strategic Partnership. This framework aims to combine India’s scale, speed, and talent with Nordic technology and capital to develop global solutions in clean energy, sustainability, and emerging technologies.

Prime Minister Modi emphasised the transformative potential of the partnership: “With this green technology partnership, we will ensure a better future for the entire world… This will combine innovation with scale and talent, while advancing our shared commitment towards sustainability, trusted technologies and a better future for humanity.”

The partnership will focus on climate action, clean energy transition, circular economy initiatives, critical minerals, green hydrogen, offshore wind, carbon capture, blue economy, and green shipping.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir commended Modi’s leadership, framing climate action as an opportunity rather than a burden: “Having the leader of the biggest democracy address things like climate change and seeing it as something we need to address for progress, not something that holds us back, is such an important message coming from a leader at this scale today… I think a lot of people are afraid by what we need to do, and here we are harnessing hope, and this is the message that needs to be heard.”

Prime Minister Modi stressed a “clear and united stand on terrorism: no compromise, no double standards,” while calling for peaceful resolutions to conflicts. “Whether it is Ukraine or West Asia, we will continue to support the earliest resolution of conflicts and efforts towards peace.”

The joint statement further condemned the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 (which killed 26 people, most of them tourists) and the attack near Delhi’s Red Fort in November 2025, reflecting a unified stance against terrorism in all its forms.

Economic cooperation took centre stage, with Modi highlighting that Nordic investment in India had increased by nearly 200 per cent over the past decade, creating jobs and strengthening growth on both sides.

He pointed to two major trade frameworks: the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (in effect since October 2025) involving Norway and Iceland, and the India-EU Free Trade Agreement covering Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.

“With these ambitious trade agreements, we are ushering in a new golden era in relations between India and the Nordic countries,” Modi declared.

India currently conducts a combined trade of 19 billion US dollars with the five Nordic countries, a figure leaders see as having significant room for growth. Additionally, India and Norway set a target to double the value of current bilateral trade by 2030, with a USD 100 billion investment commitment under the TEPA framework expected to create one million jobs in India.

In a lighter moment that captured the spirit of the summit, Modi drew a linguistic link between Hindi and Nordic languages: “In many Nordic languages, the word ‘sambandh’ means connection, relations, and bond. In Hindi too, ‘sambandh’ carries the same meaning. This is not just a similarity of words; it reflects the closeness of our thoughts.”

The Nordic leaders reiterated their support for India’s permanent membership in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council and welcomed India’s application to the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Prime Minister Modi pressed for urgent institutional reforms: “We agree that reform of multilateral institutions is both necessary and urgent.”

Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo noted that the Nordics share many objectives with India — strengthening the rules-based international order and responding to climate change with sustained multilateral action — and announced that Finland will host the next India-Nordic Summit.

Arctic and polar research featured prominently on the agenda. The leaders agreed to deepen cooperation in polar research, with the Nordic countries welcoming India’s continued engagement as an observer in the Arctic Council and supporting enhanced collaboration on climate and environmental research.

Prime Minister Modi further invited Norway to participate in Bharat Innovates 2026 in France and proposed creating a bilateral Start-up Innovation Hub and Green Innovation Hackathon.

With concrete agreements on green technology, trade targets of 100 billion US dollars in investment, and strengthened cooperation on everything from AI governance to maritime security, the Oslo summit marks a defining moment in India-Nordic relations.

As Iceland’s Frostadóttir remarked, referencing the shared word ‘sambandh’: “I love that word ‘Sambandh’… people will be very devoted to this language, Prime Minister Modi, this is what people need, they need more ‘Sambandh’ today.”

From the fjords of Norway to the shores of India, the message from Oslo was clear: the new golden era has begun.