Modi’s Europe Push Redefines India’s Global Strategy

From green technologies and semiconductors to defence cooperation, energy security, Arctic research and supply-chain resilience, the PM Modi’s tour underlined New Delhi’s determination to build trusted long-term partnerships with economically advanced and politically influential European powers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a five-nation visit to Europe from May 15-20, which included a short and substantive visit to UAE and strategic outreach to Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy. He conferred with his counterparts not only from these host countries but also leaders of the European Union and all five Nordic countries, including Finland, Denmark and Iceland, under the rubric of 3rd India-Nordic Summit which was held in Oslo, focusing on a green and Innovative strategic partnership. Sweden and Norway conferred their highest civilian award on PM Modi to acknowledge and reiterate the importance of India, the largest democracy and one of the fastest-growing and resilient major economies, despite unprecedented global churn and disruptions caused by the Eurasian and Middle Eastern wars. The Agricola Medal was conferred upon him by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome. A total of 57 agreements and MoUs were signed, and according to Randhir Jaiswal, Spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, several deals worth at least $ 40 bn were signed during various B2B interactions of the Prime Minister with local business leaders. The relationship with the Netherlands was turned into a strategic partnership and that with Italy into a Special Strategic Partnership, given the importance and the convenience of political, economic, technological and security interests with two major trading, inexpensive and technology partners in Europe.

Not only did he have bilateral meetings with the leaders of these countries but in Gotenburg, Sweden he addressed a joint business meeting with   Swedish Prime Minister and European Union Commission Chief Ursula Von der Leyen focussing on greater B2B engagement and investments in ‘Make in India for the world’ enterprise especially in the context of full activation of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement -the so called ‘Mother of All deals’ by the year end. In the Netherlands, apart from defence technology, 6G, critical minerals, semiconductors, green technologies the focus was also laid on collaboration in WAH- Water, Agriculture and Health sectors. The agreement between Tata and ASML Netherlands was pathbreaking for India’s Semiconductor Mission given the global edge the ASML uniquely possesses in this techno domain. Tata Electronics and ASML will partner together for India’s first front-end semiconductor Fab in Gujarat. As bilateral relations have acquired a huge strategic matrix and impetus the two leaders agreed to establish a Strategic Partnership between the two countries to steer the critical projects.

His visit to Norway was the first time in 43 years by any Indian Prime Minister. Norway is also an energy rich highly developed country with a unique model of saving and judiciously investing its sovereign wealth funds for future generations. As the energy disruptions due to Iran-Israel- US war have impacted India a great deal, discussions were also held on procuring hydrocarbons from Norway and even more from UAE -as New Delhi diversifies its supply chains and risks.  Speaking at the India -Nordic Summit, PM Modi highlighted that during the last decade alone the bilateral trade with these countries had increased nearly fourfold. He further emphasised “Investment funds from the Nordic countries are also becoming important partners in India’s rapid growth journey. Over the past decade, investments from the Nordic countries into India have grown by nearly 200 percent.”. As such the India Europe FTA-TEPA with Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Leichestine, operationalised since October 2025, has created an additional platform for closer economic engagements among the businesses. Under this Agreement $ 100 bn project investments are expected to be made in various sectors in India

The rapidly growing trade and investment have not only contributed to India’s growth story, but have also played a highly positive role in the economies of the Nordic countries and created thousands of new jobs. Building upon this strong foundation, we have recently undertaken several important initiatives to take our relationship to the next level, added PM Modi.

Each of these strategic partners have their unique strengths not only in green and innovative technologies and developmental partnership models where synergies have been found and a roadmap for collaboration and harnessing this potential even more has been institutionalised through five dozen agreements. PM Modi also referred to the key strategic geo-economic significance of each of our partners. He underscored that ‘we have decided to shape India-Nordic relations into a Green Technology and Innovation Strategic Partnership. Through this Green Technology Partnership, we will combine Iceland’s expertise in geothermal energy and fisheries, Norway’s strengths in the blue economy and the Arctic, and the maritime and sustainability expertise of all the Nordic countries with India’s scale, in order to secure a better future for the entire world. And through the formation of this unique strategic partnership between us, we will combine Sweden’s advanced manufacturing and defence capabilities, Finland’s expertise in telecommunications and digital technology, and Denmark’s strengths in cybersecurity and health-tech with India’s talent pool, to develop trusted solutions for the world.’. Same will apply in the new emerging geo-economically contested geography in the Arctic where Nordic countries have a critical role. As such India has been engaged in scientific expeditions and R& D in the Arctic and Antarctica and the Polar Regions with them which will be further intensified so that the shared prosperity through research and innovation could be achieved in a sustained manner.

As this ‘Sambandh’ , which was also highlighted by PM Modi and Iceland Prime Minister as being a common word in Iceland and India, further intensifies the relationships. Both sides also discussed the wars in West Asia and Russia-Ukraine which have been a common concern and they expect India to play a greater role especially given Delhi’s special and strategic partnership with Moscow. PM Modi also assured them of India’s continued efforts to deescalate these crises. Since global governance and security architecture are in shambles and heading towards irrelevance, during all the interactions urgent need for their reforms and expansion of UNSC and India’s legitimate place in it were reemphasised. 

On the final leg of the visit to Italy interestingly the gift of “Melody ‘Chocolates by PM Modi to PM Meloni got much greater social media attention. While personal bonhomie and respect between the leaders drives a relationship in a trusted manner, the strategic dimensions of this very important bilateral relationship from Indo-Pacific to the Mediterranean must be appreciated, as India focuses on it even more in the maritime domain.  No wonder, it was upgraded to Special Strategic Partnership in less than three years since the exceptional convergences across the relationship spectrum from defence and security, to industry to economy to energy to high tech and design and fashion are all encompassed within the ‘The India-Italy Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-29’ which provides a practical and futuristic framework for the partnership, which is being pursued in a time-bound manner. A bilateral trade target of 20 billion euros has been set from the current 14.6 Bn Euros. Italy is one of the most enthusiastic partners in the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).

In a destabilising world, driven by utter unilateralism, India is continuing to expand its strategic engagement with Europe and the Nordic countries for a win-win cooperation through its strategic autonomy and multi-alignment policies for creating dependable constituencies and reliable techno friendships for the 21st century.

While personal bonhomie and respect between the leaders drives a relationship in a trusted manner, the strategic dimensions of this very important bilateral relationship from Indo-Pacific to the Mediterranean must be appreciated, as India focuses on it even more in the maritime domain

Anil Trigunayat is a former Indian Ambassador to Jordan, Libya and Malta and a Distinguished Fellow at Vivekananda International Foundation and USI of India; Views presented are personal.