The head of the Indian government paid visits to five countries – the UAE, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Italy – between 15 and 20 May.
India signed a set of agreements worth $5 billion with the UAE during N. Modi’s visit
The Prime Minister marked the onset of his foreign tour by visiting Abu Dhabi, where he discussed with the UAE leadership ways to strengthen trade, investment, defence and technological cooperation. Despite the brevity of the stay, the talks resulted in signing a substantial package of agreements, upgrading the bilateral relations to the level of a strategic partnership. The arrangements reached and contracts concluded primarily concerned long‑term oil and liquefied gas supplies to India and the expansion of the country’s strategic fuel reserves.
India currently ranks third in the world in terms of energy purchases, and the Emirates, together with Russia and Iraq, are key, reliable suppliers of crude oil and gas to India. This tilt towards Abu Dhabi is due to the fact that after the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, New Delhi faced a serious fuel shortage because of restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and American bans on Russian oil supplies. In order to diversify energy purchases and ensure stable fuel supplies, India placed its bet on the UAE – a significant trading partner and investor, where, on a related note, 4.5 million Indians live and work. Bilateral trade turnover is approaching $100 billion, and the Emirates are among India’s top three trading partners. During the visit, an agreement was also signed on UAE investments in Indian infrastructure projects worth a total of $5 billion. Politically, too, New Delhi reiterated its support for Abu Dhabi by condemning Iran’s recent attacks on the UAE. In short, the trip to that country was productive for India, which secured additional supplies of much‑needed energy resources.
New Delhi intends to reach a new level of cooperation with the Nordic countries
The tour of the Scandinavian countries was timed to coincide with the third India‑Nordic Summit in Oslo on 19 May, which participants regard as an important platform for further rapprochement with India.
On 15–16 May, Modi visited the Netherlands, with which India enjoys advanced trade and investment ties. It is enough to say that bilateral trade turnover reaches $30 billion, and the volume of investments in India amounts to around $60 billion. These were the very topics the discussions centred on in The Hague. As a result, the countries agreed on expanding cooperation in high technology, semiconductors, renewable energy, water and agriculture, trade, investment, and defence.
In addition to talks with his Dutch counterpart, the Indian Prime Minister was received by the royal couple, having highly appreciated the hosts’ generous gesture of returning valuable cultural heritage to India – rare copper plates from the Chola dynasty era (11th century). As is tradition, N. Modi met with representatives of the business community and the Indian diaspora, which is one of the largest in continental Europe.
The stopover in Sweden took place on 17–18 May. The aim of the visit was to deepen cooperation in high‑tech fields; key directions in recent years include artificial intelligence, digital and green technology, innovation, and semiconductors. A special place is occupied by the active participation of Swedish companies in the development of India’s defence industry; trade and investment ties are growing, although their trade turnover is quite modest – about $8 billion, and direct investment about $3 billion. The question of doubling trade relations was the main topic of the participation of Prime Minister N. Modi, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a joint industrial forum, where the importance of the EU free trade agreement coming into force at the end of the year was underlined. In the final statement, the parties decided to elevate their successful bilateral cooperation to the level of a strategic partnership. Narendra Modi was awarded the highest royal order.
First visit to Norway
On 18 May, Narendra Modi began the first visit in the history of bilateral relations by an Indian prime minister to Norway; cooperation with Norway has been modest. Trade turnover amounts to about $1 billion, and despite efforts made, including the holding of a joint business forum, trade, and investment ties remain limited. The talks in Oslo were aimed at giving momentum to these ties. As a result, numerous memoranda of understanding were signed on cooperation in energy, transport, rare earth metals, digital infrastructure, climate, healthcare, and even space. As in the case of Sweden, N. Modi was awarded the highest royal order.
During the visit to Norway, on 19 May, the third consecutive India‑Nordic summit (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark) was held in Oslo. The first summit took place in Stockholm in 2018, and the second in Copenhagen in 2022. Holding such summits is linked to India’s desire to deepen strategic, trade, and investment cooperation with the Nordic region. This cooperation is developing successfully amidst India and the EU having recently signed a free trade agreement (trade turnover stands at around $120 billion), as well as a similar document with European non‑EU states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland).
Key topics of the Oslo summit were: trade (total trade turnover with the Nordic countries reaches $20 billion), climate change, energy security, technology and innovation, green transition and renewable energy, blue economy, defence, space, the Arctic, and others. The parties agreed to expand cooperation, including investment cooperation, in new areas – semiconductors, digital technology and infrastructure, artificial intelligence, rare earth elements, etc. They also agreed to increase India’s exports of pharmaceuticals, textiles, machinery and equipment, and shipbuilding at Indian shipyards. India will continue to actively participate in the development of ocean resources, joint scientific research in the Arctic region and northern sea transport corridors.
Geopolitics was also on the agenda – primarily the Ukrainian issue and the situation around Iran. However, despite pressure from the Nordic countries and the well‑known sharply anti‑Russian slant in their policies, the Indian Prime Minister distanced himself from the condemnation of Russia’s actions in Ukraine and from any participation in sanctions against our country. Likewise, on the Iranian conflict, N. Modi, to the disappointment of the summit hosts, set out New Delhi’s balanced position, which did not coincide with their approaches – much as on the Ukrainian issue.
Nevertheless, the results of the summit regarding trade, economic, industrial, defence and research aspects have undoubtedly given the mutual relations a strategic character and will lead to stronger cooperation, which was precisely the goal of the Indian leadership’s visit. Over the past decade, trade turnover with the Nordic countries, as well as the volume of investment into India, has doubled.
New Delhi expands cooperation with Italy
The final point on N. Modi’s European itinerary was his stop in Italy on 19‑20 May, where, during talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the expanding cooperation in a wide variety of fields. Italy is India’s fourth largest trading partner after Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands (trade turnover is approximately $17 billion), and the volume of investment into the Indian economy is around $4 billion. According to the joint strategic action plan for 2025–2029, bilateral trade is expected to reach $24 billion. Following the Indian Prime Minister’s stay in Rome, a joint declaration was signed granting the interaction a special strategic character, as well as agreements in trade, industry, investment, maritime transport, agriculture, education, and other areas.
Such was the unusual foreign trip of N. Modi, which combined a visit to a Gulf country, and to the Nordic states – which, unlike the Emirates, are marked by sharply Russophobic, confrontational approaches – as well as to Italy, which also takes an unfriendly stance towards Russia. No doubt, the leaders of these countries hostile to Russia expressed unflattering and critical words about Moscow to the Indian Prime Minister, but they did not receive the reaction they wanted from their distinguished guest. And that should not come as a surprise – New Delhi and Moscow have been bound for many decades by strong ties of close friendship and prolific cooperation, which have long since reached the level of a particularly trusting and privileged strategic partnership. And there is no force capable of influencing the nature and direction of such a future‑oriented multipolar world order of global, wide‑format interaction.
Overall, the multi-vector approach and strategic autonomy as the foreign policy strategy, articulated and successfully implemented by the Indian leadership, are bearing fruit – the global weight and status of this important power are gaining weight, as it even more confidently becomes one of the key centers of power in a more just, balanced, and democratic polycentric world being shaped.
Anvar Azimov, Diplomat and political scientist, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, PhD in History, Senior Research Fellow at the Eurasian Educational Institute of MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia
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