PM’s 3 Days Visit to Europe – Part 2

The first foreign tour of India in 2022 was unusual in its own way, yet, as they say, a strong leader’s vision connects like-minded individuals in an instant. Three days, eight world leaders, twenty-five engagements, a number of agreements, fifty global business executives, with one Prime Minister of India. Our Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a three-day tour to Germany, Denmark, and France with the goal of advancing India’s engagement with Europe through trade, renewable energy, high-tech mobility, and the Indo-Pacific agenda. A number of bilateral discussions were organised to strengthen ties in a variety of fields, including trade, energy, and green technology. Everything in international relations has to be seen in context, and the backdrop of the visit is the biggest crisis of this decade, the Ukraine Crisis, in which Europe has adopted a vehemently negative posture while India has consistently kept its neutral stance at every chance.

The European tour began in Germany, where the German Chancellor and two other leaders met for bilateral talks at the sixth India-Germany Intergovernmental Consultations (IGC). It was the inaugural IGC and the first governmental meetings with Germany’s newly formed government, followed by a Scholz business event. India and Germany signed a total of nine agreements, including a Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) on Green and Sustainable Development Partnership, in which Germany promised to provide India with an advance commitment of 10 billion euros in new and additional developmental assistance until 2030. It is vital to note that our Prime Minister has always taken the chance to contact the Indian diaspora, and the highlight of the encounter this time was when a young Indian lad sang a patriotic song for Mother India in front of the Prime Minister.

The event’s second day began in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the visit will be remembered for the fact that Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen came all the way to the airport to greet the Indian Prime Minister. The second India-Nordic Summit was held as a follow-up event, and it was significant in and of itself since Katrin Jakobsdóttir of Iceland, Jonas Gahr Store of Norway, Magdalena Andersson of Sweden, and Sanna Marin of Finland were present to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The second India-Nordic summit focused mostly on post-pandemic economic recovery, climate change, renewable energy, and the changing global security landscape. Agreements like the Declaration of Intent (DoI) on Migration and Mobility, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the fields of skill development, vocational education, and entrepreneurship, and the start of a ministerial-level energy policy conversation between the two countries.

The final meeting took place at the Elysee Palace, the French President’s official residence, with President Emmanuel Macron and the French government. The camaraderie and links between India and France are exceedingly strong, as evidenced by Macron’s hugging the Indian Minister soon after their meeting. Everything from global challenges to bilateral relations was covered.
From an Indian standpoint, the three-day tour to Europe was a huge success, as evidenced by the fact that eight heads of state from different countries came to meet the Indian Prime Minister. It is consistent with our firm foreign policy, which our prime minister has promoted since his appointment.

II. PM Modi started his ‘3-day, 3-nation’ Europe tour from May 2nd to May 5th. The PM’s tour to Europe comes at a time when the region is facing numerous trade, financial, and geopolitical challenges due to the Russia-Ukraine war. On his 3-day tour, he visited Germany, Denmark, and France. He had also visited Berlin to hold a bilateral discussion with H.E. Olaf Scholz, the Federal Chancellor of Germany.

As per the statement by the PMO, PM Modi, and the German Chancellor will co-chair the 6th India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations, a unique biennial format that India conducts only with Germany. Several Indian ministers have also travelled to Germany and held consultations with their German counterparts. PM Modi has also participated in the India-Denmark Business Roundtable and interacted with the Indian community in Denmark. Along with that, he was also a part of the second India-Nordic Summit along with the Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The subjects of the summit were post-Pandemic economic recovery, climate change, innovation and technology, and renewable energy. During the return journey to India, Mr. PM stopped over in Paris and met President Emmanuel Macron.

Significance of PM Modi’s visit to Germany

1. PM Modi’s visit to Berlin comes amid Germany’s efforts to intensify its engagement in the Indo-Pacific region amid China’s assertiveness. In January, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and German Navy chief Kay-Achim Schon Bach discussed maritime security cooperation in the context of greater engagement by Germany in the Indo-Pacific.

2. PM Modi’s visit is also likely to focus on trade relations with Germany. India’s largest trading partner in Europe is Germany, with a bilateral trade of over $21 billion. The visit will chart the future course for deepening Indo-German ties. This is PM Modi’s fifth visit to Germany since becoming Prime Minister.

3. India and Germany, which are trying to strengthen the post-COVID recovery, are banking on a strategic partnership to further commercial ties. “The long-standing commercial ties between India and Germany form one of the pillars of our strategic partnership, and Chancellor Scholz and I will also jointly address a business roundtable to energise our industry-to-industry cooperation, which will help strengthen the post-COVID economic recovery in both countries,” PM Modi said ahead of his visit to Germany, news agency PTI reported.

4. The Indian Diaspora is an important anchor in our relations with Europe and, therefore, I will take the opportunity of my visit to the continent to meet our brothers and sisters there.

5. With Germany taking a strong stand against Russia over the war in Ukraine while India maintains a diplomatic balance, Berlin and New Delhi must exchange strategic notes. Germany currently holds the G7 rotating presidency, and it will be interesting to see if India gets invited to the G7 summit in June even as New Delhi has taken a different stand on the Ukraine-Russia war.

Significance of PM Modi’s visit to Denmark

India and Denmark on May 3rd signed nine agreements during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the European nation. The signing of the agreements was witnessed by PM Modi and his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, in Copenhagen. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the nine agreements include a letter of intent between the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, GOI, and the Ministry of Business, Industry, and Financial Affairs of Denmark on the Centre of Excellence in Green Shipping.

1. A Declaration of Intent (DoI) on Migration and Mobility was also signed.

2. Both sides also signed the Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) between the Ministry of Culture, GoI, and the Ministry of Culture of Denmark for the years 2022-2026.

3. They also signed an MoU on Cooperation in the fields of Skill Development, Vocational Education, and Entrepreneurship.

4. The Agreements on the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) on Cooperation in the fields of Animal Husbandry and Dairy, and the Launch of Energy Policy Dialogue at the Ministerial level, were also inked.

5. Moreover, both sides also signed agreements on India’s joining as a mission partner to ICARS (International Centre for Anti-Microbial Resistance Solution), and a letter of intent between Invest India and Technical University of Denmark to facilitate start-up collaboration.

Key Points of PM’s visit to France

Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his immensely productive three-day-three European nation visit. On the last leg of his visit, he met President Emmanuel Macron and congratulated him on being re-elected as the President of France. PM Modi also thanked the French President, Emmanuel Macron, for the warm hospitality extended during his visit. He further invited the French President to visit India at the earliest opportunity.

The two leaders expressed serious concern about the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Concerning the cascading effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, particularly the increased risk of an aggravated food crisis, the leaders agreed to enable coordinated response through initiatives such as the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM). The mission aims to ensure well-functioning markets, solidarity, and long-term resilience.

1. The leaders also reiterated their support for a peaceful, secure, and stable Afghanistan.

2. Future Technology: The leaders expressed their willingness to deepen their cooperation on exascale technology. The two sides also agreed to work together for more secure and sovereign 5G/6G telecom systems.

3. Space Cooperation: During the high-level meeting, both sides also agreed to set up a bilateral strategic dialogue on space issues.

4. On the clean energy front, India and France expressed willingness ‘to foster cooperation on decarbonized hydrogen, including on aspects related to regulation, certification, and standardization of such hydrogen to build robust industrial partnerships and agreed to soon finalize a roadmap to take forward this cooperation.’

III. On May 5th, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his 3-day, 3-nation tour. PM Modi’s three-nation tour in Europe consisted of several bilateral meetings involving leaders and delegates from Germany, Denmark, and France. This 3-day, 3-nation tour ended up being a huge success. As a result of these bilateral meetings, there have been new advanced trade and investment ties between India and the other three European nations.

This Europe tour covers three of the major European nations. It started on May 2nd, 2022 with Germany and ended on May 5th, 2022 with PM Modi visiting France. At first, PM Modi met the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on May 2nd, 2022, and co-chaired the 6th India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations in Berlin today. The Indian Diaspora warmly welcomed PM Modi in Berlin. PM Modi addressed the ongoing war crisis between Ukraine and Russia and stated rightfully that no one can emerge victorious from this ongoing war. PM Modi invited Germany to participate in India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign. During the intergovernmental consolation, both nations agreed to develop hydrogen roadmaps in green and sustainable development agreements, which would be a big step in moving towards green and sustainable energy. PM Modi also interacted with business and Indian community leaders. During talks in Berlin, PM Modi stressed on the importance of minimum government and maximum governance.

After Germany, PM Modi travelled to Denmark, and met Danish PM Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen and participated in the historic Second India-Nordic Summit with the prime ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway. PM Modi also addressed the Indian diaspora. The Summit focused on subjects like post-pandemic economic recovery, climate change, innovation and technology, renewable energy, the evolving global security scenario and India Nordic cooperation in the Arctic region.

During this summit, India and Denmark entered into nine agreements, resulting in the furtherance of better international relations and diplomatic ties. PM Modi focused on trade and green technology while reviewing progress of the India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership. During his visit to Denmark, PM Modi also met with leading Danish businessmen who expressed their hopes to invest in the Indian market and in the Indian Start-up ecosystem. This shows how much the Indian start-up ecosystem has developed. Upon meeting the President and CEO of Ramboll Group, PM Modi praised his leadership in the area of green energy. While addressing the Indian diaspora in Denmark, PM Modi stated that whatever India is achieving today is an achievement of about one-fifth of humanity. PM Modi talked about the huge obstacle that India had faced during the pandemic and how India overcame it by vaccinating the entire nation. The Prime Minister also stressed on the importance of the environment.

During the last leg of his 3-day, 3-nation tour, PM Modi visited Paris, France, where he met the re-elected President Emmanuel Macron. They discussed several issues revolving around bilateral and mutual interests as well as regional and global developments, amid Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and both France and India’s important partnership.

PM Narendra Modi’s 3-day, 3 nation tour is a suitable example of how much India has developed in the diplomatic field and the immense respect and recognition it has received in recent years. This European’s three-day tour and its fruitful outcomes demonstrate that India is no longer a bystander in global issues and development, but has finally taken centre stage and has a far more important role to play in it. The huge success of this 3-day, 3-nation tour provides an immense sense of pride and honour among Indians, not only in India but all over the world.

IV. INTRODUCTION

Visiting 3 countries in only 3 days is surely a fantastic milestone for us, but it seems as smooth as drinking water for our honorable Prime Minister. From May 2 to 4, he functioned untiringly with a jam-packed schedule, holding a mind-blowing 25 meetings in 65 hours. The schedule included wide ranging interaction with the political leadership of these countries, the Indian diaspora and the top industrialists and CEOs.

GERMANY 🇩🇪

2nd May, 2022
Germany had an intense, hectic but highly productive schedule for our Prime Minister

1. Key events
● Meeting between the Prime Minister and Chancellor Scholz
● The plenary session of the sixth intergovernmental consultations
● A high-level business roundtable (attended by Chancellor Scholz, Prime Minister Modi and the leading executives of the business community from the two countries)
● Address of the Prime Minister to a very enthusiastic Indian diaspora
● Chancellor Scholz’s private dinner for Prime Minister Modi.

2. Highlights
There were a wide range of agreements on sustainable development cooperation, triangular development cooperation, the text of the migration and mobility partnership agreement, defense cooperation, green hydrogen collaboration etc.
Overall, the economy, ecology, trade, investment linkage and green partnership were the Central pillars of discussion.

DENMARK 🇩🇰
3rd May, 2022
Honorable Prime Minister, Shri. Narendra Modi was received by Prime Minister of Denmark Her Excellency Mette Frederiksen, as a special gesture.

1. Key events
● One to one talk between the two Prime Ministers
● Delegation level talks
● High profile business interaction with CEOs. 17 Danish CEOs and 13 Indian CEOs were present at this business event.
● An interaction with the Indian diaspora. The event also was graced by Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen
● Banquet dinner to be hosted by Her Majesty, the Queen Margrethe II.

4th May, 2022
Bilateral summit meetings with his counterparts from Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway

Engagement with the Nordic partners, the Prime Ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway as a part of the 2nd India-Nordic Summit.

2. Highlights
Smart water management and green shipping, expansion of economic, trade, investment, digital and innovation cooperation, India-EU FTA, bilateral cooperation in the arctic region, launch of ministerial energy dialogue between the two countries, joint declaration of intent on migration and mobility. A five-year cultural exchange program was also signed.

An MoU on skill development, vocational education, and entrepreneurship. Joint declaration of intent on the center of excellence in animal husbandry and dairying

4th May, 2022
With the Nordic countries: vast diversity of topics like blue economy, health, cooperation in building and restoring water bodies in India, coordination in the UN Security Council, cultural cooperation, combining skill capabilities in Nordic countries with the scale of India, clean and green growth solutions, innovation partnership, women’s empowerment, skill development, space etc.

FRANCE 🇫🇷
4th May, 2022

On his brief visit to Paris, he met President Macron and congratulated him on being re-elected. The two leaders have stayed in regular touch through calls and letters.

1. Key events
• A brief meeting and discussion with the President
• Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, also met his French counterpart, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

2. Highlights
The Prime Minister greeted the French president for re-election and held extensive discussions on a range of issues of bilateral, regional, and global importance, in defense, space, civil nuclear cooperation, and people-to-people linkages.

They also discussed regional and global issues and developments in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

Significance
2nd May, 2022 Honorable

The Prime Minister clearly outlined India’s commitment to sustainable clean and green growth as reflected in Indian policies. He reiterated India’s five commitments which were made in COP 26, strengthening the green strategic partnership, sustainable development solutions, and fighting climate change together.
The positive and progressive agenda of the India-Europe partnership highlighted and projected the success and strength of commercial partnerships with India to the whole world.
Strong people-to-people linkages provide an important underpinning to our shared values and to growing trade and investment ties, and this meeting provides more opportunities for stronger economic and cultural ties.

They also shared their views on the new plaguing issue of the Ukraine conflict and its impact in sectors like food, energy, fertilizers, edible oil, etc.

Conclusion
A wholesome, packed visit which almost covered all the important topics was completed successfully in a very short period of time, making it an extremely productive visit. The high energy and tireless efforts of our PM towards the nation’s growth are laudatory.

65 hours

3 nations

8 world leaders

25 meetings

When it comes to uplifting India’s profile globally, PM Modi is simply unstoppable.

[These are 4 different blogs collated as a single blog written by our MyGov Interns Kartik, Shantanu Das, Tathagath and Yasashwini respectively.]