A new green strategic partnership

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Oslo on Monday, May 18, 2026, as part of his four-nation European tour, after concluding engagements in Sweden. During his stay in the Norwegian capital, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on trade, technology, energy cooperation, maritime affairs, and regional security, before participating today in the Third India–Nordic Summit alongside the leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden.

Participating in the summit together with Prime Minister Modi are Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, and Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir. Collectively, these leaders represent a grouping of technologically advanced democracies whose deepening engagement with India reflects the evolving contours of global geopolitics and economic cooperation.

The summit carries particular historical significance, as it marks the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Norway in more than four decades. What was once regarded as a relatively limited diplomatic engagement has gradually evolved into a multidimensional strategic partnership encompassing renewable energy, maritime infrastructure, Arctic governance, advanced manufacturing, technological innovation, climate policy, and resilient supply chains.

This transformation must also be understood against the backdrop of a rapidly shifting international system. The global order today is characterised by overlapping crises and transitions. The war in Ukraine continues to reshape Europe’s security architecture and energy calculus, while instability in West Asia has heightened concerns over maritime trade routes, fossil fuel security, and global economic volatility. At the same time, intensifying great power competition is accelerating technological fragmentation, and climate change is steadily redefining economic policy, industrial strategy, and geopolitical influence. Within this broader environment, the India–Nordic Summit reflects the emergence of a more deliberate strategic alignment among democratic middle powers seeking resilience, strategic autonomy, and long-term economic transformation.

The broader significance of this convergence becomes even clearer when situated alongside recent remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the evolving role of middle powers in the international system. Carney argued that states can no longer afford strategic passivity in a fragmented geopolitical environment. His widely cited observation, “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” has resonated across diplomatic and strategic discourse, as it captures the structural pressures now faced by medium and emerging powers. The India–Nordic Summit may therefore be read as a practical expression of this emerging geopolitical logic, wherein states are increasingly compelled to construct flexible coalitions that safeguard autonomy and influence.

The India–Nordic institutional framework itself has matured steadily over the past decade. The first India–Nordic Summit was held in Stockholm in 2018, followed by the second in Copenhagen in 2022. The present summit in Oslo thus represents not an isolated event, but the consolidation of an evolving partnership that has gained substantial depth and strategic coherence. Its agenda reflects a widening scope of cooperation that now extends well beyond traditional economic engagement into the domains of energy transition, technological innovation, maritime security, and climate governance.

At the core of this partnership lies the question of energy transition and sustainable development. The Nordic countries are internationally recognised leaders in renewable energy systems, environmental governance, and green industrial innovation, while India has emerged as one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy markets. Their cooperation therefore reflects not only complementary economic interests, but also the broader restructuring of global energy politics in the twenty-first century.

Among the Nordic states, Denmark occupies a particularly influential position in the global green transition. It is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost renewable energy economies and a pioneer in offshore wind development and sustainable urban planning. More than 80 percent of Denmark’s electricity generation now derives from renewable sources, including offshore wind, biomass, and solar energy. The Danish experience demonstrates that industrial prosperity and environmental sustainability need not stand in contradiction; rather, they can function as mutually reinforcing dimensions of long-term economic modernisation.

For India, Danish expertise in offshore wind infrastructure, smart grids, district heating systems, energy-efficient urban design, and green maritime technologies holds significant strategic value. India itself has undertaken one of the most ambitious renewable energy expansion programmes globally. Over the past decade, it has substantially increased its solar and wind capacity, positioning itself as a central actor in the global clean energy transition.

Indeed, one of the more under-recognised features of contemporary geopolitics is the extent to which Asia, particularly India and China, has become central to the global expansion of renewable energy capacity. While international discourse often frames the energy transition through a predominantly European lens, the empirical reality is that India and China have emerged as key drivers of both renewable deployment and manufacturing scale. As global energy demand continues to rise under the pressures of industrialisation, artificial intelligence infrastructure, digital economies, and urbanisation, renewable energy is increasingly becoming a defining determinant of economic power and geopolitical influence.

Another major dimension shaping the summit is the growing geopolitical significance of the Arctic region. The Arctic is no longer a distant or peripheral environmental frontier; it is increasingly central to climate science, maritime connectivity, critical mineral exploration, satellite infrastructure, energy resources, and strategic competition among states.

This Arctic dimension also intersects with another expanding area of India–Nordic cooperation: shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing. India is increasingly positioning shipbuilding as a strategic pillar of its industrial future, aiming to expand its presence in global maritime production. Nordic expertise in advanced vessel design, green shipping technologies, maritime automation, and ice-class engineering offers considerable potential to accelerate this ambition.

At a time when the international order is becoming increasingly fragmented and uncertain, the summit highlights how middle powers and technologically advanced democracies are seeking flexible yet durable frameworks of cooperation rooted in shared strategic interests. Climate change, maritime security, energy transition, technological innovation, and supply chain resilience are no longer peripheral concerns; they are becoming central organising principles of the international order.

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