India and Norway on Tuesday agreed to closely collaborate on ocean economy and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, while vowing to step up bilateral trade, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Norwegian counterpart Erna Solberg.
Modi and Solberg held delegation-level talks and discussed ways to give “new energy and direction” to bilateral ties.
The two countries also signed an MoU for holding an India-Norway Ocean Dialogue.
Solberg, who arrived here Monday on her maiden India visit, was accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning before talks with Modi.
“We reviewed all areas of our cooperation, and discussed ways of giving new energy and direction to bilateral ties,” Modi said in his press statement after talks with Solberg.
He said they also had “fruitful discussions” on all aspects of ocean economy.
India and Norway have strong cooperation at the international level and both the countries coordinate closely on issues such as UN Security Council reforms, multi-lateral export control regimes and terrorism, Modi said.
Talking about the Sustainable Development Goals, Modi said that they were completely in consonance with India’s development goals.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 global goals set by the United Nations in areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption and peace and justice.
India and Norway are successfully cooperating in the field of mother and child health under the Norway-India partnership initiative, Modi said.
Solberg, in her press statement, said that given the importance of India’s economy and the size of its population, the world will not be able to reach the sustainable goals unless “India is on board”.
“I have seen impressive improvements on the work done in India, especially on women’s empowerment,” she said.
