NEW DELHI: India and Finland on Thursday elevated their bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership in Digitalisation and Sustainability during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in the Indian capital. The decision was announced as Stubb began a state visit to India running from March 4 to March 7, with meetings in New Delhi and Mumbai. The two leaders held wide-ranging discussions and jointly addressed the media after their bilateral meeting.
The partnership is intended to add momentum to cooperation in advanced technologies and sustainability-focused areas. In a press statement, Modi cited collaboration prospects spanning artificial intelligence and 6G telecommunications, as well as clean energy and quantum computing. He also said cooperation would expand in sectors including defence, space, semiconductors and critical minerals. Stubb is visiting with a delegation that includes Finland’s minister of climate and the environment, Sari Multala, and minister of employment, Matias Marttinen.
India’s foreign ministry said Stubb served as chief guest and delivered the inaugural keynote address at the 11th edition of the Raisina Dialogue, held in New Delhi from March 5 to March 7. The joint statement said the visit followed Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s trip to India in February for the AI Impact Summit. The leaders discussed the development of safe, trustworthy and inclusive artificial intelligence, and noted the role of technology in deepening economic and institutional links.
Agreements And Sector Priorities
The two sides signed an agreement on a Migration and Mobility Partnership, which India said would facilitate the movement of talent as Finland becomes an important destination for Indian professionals, particularly in technology and innovation. They also renewed a memorandum of understanding on environmental cooperation first signed in November 2020. India said the renewed framework covers collaboration areas tied to sustainability, including bioenergy, waste-to-energy solutions, power storage, flexible renewable energy systems, green hydrogen, and wind, solar and small hydropower.
A separate memorandum of understanding was signed on cooperation in official statistics to promote exchanges of experience and best practices. India and Finland also announced joint research calls under an implementation arrangement between India’s Department of Science and Technology and Finland’s innovation funding agency, Business Finland. The two governments said they would establish a cross-sectoral Joint Working Group on Digitalisation to advance cooperation in emerging technologies including 5G, 6G, quantum communications, high-performance computing, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
Trade, Innovation And 6G Cooperation
In their joint statement, the leaders welcomed the conclusion of a free trade agreement between India and the European Union at the India-EU Summit on January 27, 2026, and said it could create new opportunities for trade, investment and technology cooperation. They called on businesses to make use of the opportunities created by the agreement and said the aim should be to double the value of current India-Finland trade by 2030. The leaders noted the presence of a large Finnish business delegation during the visit.
The two sides announced the creation of a Joint Task Force on 6G, linking research at the University of Oulu in Finland with India’s Bharat 6G Alliance. They also agreed to deepen connectivity between startup ecosystems through an Indo-Finland Startup Corridor, including participation by Indian startups in Slush in Helsinki and Finnish startups in Startup Mahakumbh in New Delhi. India and Finland said they would co-host the World Circular Economy Forum in India in 2026, involving India’s environment ministry and Finland’s innovation fund, Sitra, and would establish a consular dialogue between their foreign ministries. – By Content Syndication Services.