(The Gist of PIB) Green Strategic Partnership

(THE GIST OF PIB) Green Strategic Partnership

At the virtual Summit, the Prime Ministers of India and Denmark agreed to elevate India-Denmark relations to a Green Strategic Partnership.

India and Denmark will cooperate through relevant ministries, institutions and stakeholders.
India has launched Green Strategic Partnership for the first time with Denmark as its partner to be at forefront of the global fight against Climate Change.
It envisaged cooperation within the political field, economic and commercial field, education and culture, Renewable Energy, Urban Development, Environment, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Food Processing, Science, Technology and Innovation, Shipping, Labour Mobility and Digitization.

It 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 a focus on an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Energy and Climate Change:

The two partners agreed on addressing global challenges and solutions on green energy transition and climate change.
The Strategic Sector Cooperation on offshore wind and renewable energy, the India-Denmark Energy Partnership (INDEP) on capacity building, knowledge-sharing and technology transfer on wind energy, energy modeling and integration of renewable energy are some of the commitments to address the common global challenges on the path towards global energy transition, green growth and sustainable development.
India and Denmark agree to be at the forefront in the global fight against climate change.

Environment/Water and Circular Economy:

Both the countries agreed to work towards further expanding and strengthening the existing Government-to-Government cooperation on environment/water and circular economy.
Countries further agreed to cooperate in water efficiency and non-revenue water (water loss) and tasked the Indian 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).
Sustainable Urban Development including Smart Cities:
Both sides agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in sustainable urban development, including in smart cities through the Urban Living Lab in Goa.
Both sides also agreed to strengthen existing City-to-City cooperation between Udaipur and Aarhus and Tumakuru and Aalborg.

Business, Trade and Shipping:

Both sides welcomed the idea of developing partnerships between Governments, institutions and businesses of the two countries with special focus on green and climate-friendly technologies.
They recognized the importance of regulatory framework conditions to support public and private investments in green energy.
Both leaders appreciated the deep cooperation on maritime affairs and noted the potential for enhancing cooperation in shipbuilding and design, maritime services and Green shipping, as well as port development.

Science, Technology, Innovation and Digitization:

India and Denmark recognize the importance of promoting and facilitating investments in science, technology and innovation (STI) via strong public-private partnerships as an important way to accelerate technology development and the implementation of new solutions.
The two leaders recognized their shared interest in digitization 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.

Food and Agriculture:

The two Prime Ministers encouraged fostering deeper and closer cooperation between authorities, businesses and research institutions in the sectors of food processing and food safety, as well as animal husbandry and dairying.

Health and Life Science:

Both sides emphasized the potential and their common desire to strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the health sector.
They confirmed their interest in expanding dialogue and sharing best practices on health policy issues, including on epidemics and vaccines, especially to combat Covid-19 and future pandemics.
They agreed to work on expanding commercial opportunities for businesses by creating more favourable environments for the life science sector, including research collaborations.
Cultural Cooperation, People-to-People contacts and Labour Mobility:
The two Prime Ministers acknowledged that the richness of the relationship between India and Denmark is a result of the long-standing people-to-people contacts and agreed to further promote greater awareness and mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries through cultural cooperation.
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.

Multilateral Cooperation:

The two Prime Ministers agree 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 a common commitment to the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the International Solar Alliance.
Both sides supported the need for cooperation on promotion of an open, inclusive and rule-based multilateral trading system under the WTO at its core to promote global growth and sustainable development.
Both sides expressed their commitment for working towards an ambitious, fair, and mutually beneficial Trade and Investment Agreement between EU and India to further strengthen and deepen the EU-India ties.
Both sides expressed their willingness for collaboration within the framework of the Arctic Council in the area of climate change.

Significance:

It will prove useful for India-Denmark relations and will also help in building a common approach towards global challenges
This will help expand economic relations and green growth, and strengthen cooperation on addressing global challenges; with a focus on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the climate change goals.”
The summit proved that India and Denmark had overcome one of the biggest hurdles to their bilateral relationship the future of Kim Davy, accused in the Purulia arms drop case. That one issue had almost blacklisted Denmark for the Indian government for decades.

The two leaders expressed their conviction that a decision of the two countries to establish Green Strategic Partnership has opened a new chapter in the friendly and cooperative relations between them.
Ambitious goals and actions will be identified within the areas and outlined in an Action Plan that will be worked out and endorsed as soon as possible.