The visit of Denmark PM highlights India's increased engagement with the Nordics

Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will be visiting India over the weekend, becoming the first head of government to visit New Delhi in over 20 months.

Delhi has been a busy capital, with a lot of incoming visits, but this was impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last such visit of any head of state was of Myanmar's President U Win Myint from February 26th to 29th, 2020.

That same month saw the high profile visit of then US President Donald Trump. He visited Indian states including, Ahmedabad, Agra and Delhi.

India was impacted by the devastating second wave of COVID-19 pandemic this year. However, the situation has improved significantly. 92.63 crore vaccine doses have been administered.

The country has reported just 22,431 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Active cases account for less than 1 per cent of the total cases, the lowest since March 2020, reveals government data. Recovery data is also highest since March 2020.

In September 2020, both India and Denmark held a virtual summit and established a unique and one of a kind ‘Green Strategic Partnership’. The partnership aims at green growth by focussing on an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Denmark will also hold the next India-Nordic summit.

A release from the ministry of external affairs said, "India-Denmark bilateral relations are marked by regular high-level exchanges and are based on historical links, common democratic traditions and shared desire for regional as well as international peace and stability".

Saturday will be the main day of engagement as both the Prime Ministers will hold talks. The visiting PM will be interacting with think tanks, students and members of civil society.

There are over 200 Danish companies present in India and over 60 Indian companies have a presence in Denmark. Both countries already have strong collaboration in the fields of renewable energy, clean technologies, water and waste management, agriculture and animal husbandry, science & technology, digitisation including ICT, smart cities, shipping, etc.