New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS): There has been a significant strengthening of relations between India and Iceland after the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) signed between India and the EFTA countries came into force last year, Iceland’s Ambassador to New Delhi, Benedikt Hoskuldsson, told IANS in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
He said that since the agreement came into force, Iceland has worked effectively to promote TEPA within India, particularly among sectors that are important for strengthening bilateral relations.
“I believe TEPA really anchors the growing relationship between our two countries,” the Ambassador remarked.
“Since the India-EFTA agreement came into force in October last year, we have been promoting Iceland’s interests in India. For example, we are seeing some tangible results from three workshops in three different cities in India, aimed at increasing tourism between the two countries. We also hosted a special event in Delhi to promote Icelandic seafood in India, and we are seeing positive results from that as well,” he said.
Besides, during this period, there has been one significant investment from Iceland in India’s marine sector, he added.
The Ambassador pointed out that Iceland sees the Indian market and the Indian economy developing significantly in the coming years, and India will be one of the key components of the Arctic country’s engagement and activities in Asia.
He also highlighted that India has made rapid progress over the last decade and Iceland sees India’s importance growing economically, as well as geopolitically, in the world today.
The Ambassador further underscored that India and Iceland are working together on climate change. He said the work was going on in two significant areas where Iceland can contribute to India’s trajectory towards greater climate resilience. The first is geothermal technology, which Iceland has mastered over nearly 100 years. This includes high-temperature geothermal applications to produce electricity, as well as the utilisation of low-temperature geothermal resources, which can benefit vulnerable populations, especially in northern and Himalayan regions.
The second area is carbon capture, utilisation and storage, or CCUS. Iceland has been commercialising technologies in carbon capture, utilisation and storage for more than 20 years. These companies and technologies are now being brought to India, he added.
“We believe these technologies can support India’s hard-to-abate sectors because, in order for India to grow, these sectors cannot simply be stopped. If you look at steel, petrochemicals and cement, these industries will continue to be necessary. But they also need to reduce their emissions and carbon footprint,” the Ambassador noted.
He pointed out that one way of doing that with currently available technologies is to capture carbon and store it in basalt rock formations underground, or to convert CO2 with hydrogen into e-methanol, which can potentially be used as a future aviation fuel.
