AMN / Camp: Helsinki
Lok Sabha Speaker Mrs. Sumitra Mahajan who is on official visit here said that India and Finland have enjoyed warm and friendly relations which are based on common values such as a commitment to democracy and rule of law. She said that bilateral cooperation has become increasingly multifaceted and dynamic in the recent years.
Mrs Mahajan met Ms. Paula Risikko, the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Finland, in Helsinki on 18 June. Ms. Paula Risikko appreciated the developmental work and reforms taking place in India and mentioned that in the last 4 years the country has greatly transformed itself. She also congratulated Mrs. Mahajan on her home town Indore being nominated as the no. 1 clean city in the country.
Mahajan referred to the first ever India-Nordic Summit held on 17 April 2018 in Stockholm, wherein the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and Finland’s Prime Minister Mr. Juha Sipilä had a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Summit. Mahajan said that their discussions had provided a new momentum to the ongoing engagements between the two countries.
She informed Ms. Risikko that India is keen to increase parliamentary exchanges with Finland which would enhance people to people contacts and awareness about each other’s countries and policies, among parliamentarians. Mrs. Mahajan said that Speaker’s Research Initiative (SRI) in India’s Parliament, which offers one and three months internship programmes for young people in India to familarise them with Parliamentary functioning and legislative process, could be offered to the young people from Finland.
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Mrs Mahajan was happy to note that India-Finland economic and commercial engagements had acquired more diversity in recent years, with investments being made by both sides. There is also a welcome trend of Finnish companies manufacturing in India. She urged the Government of Finland to give a boost to such engagement, by supporting visits of Finnish companies to India, so that they could get first-hand knowledge of the potential of India. She further said that the Government of India has put in place several transformational initiatives such as Digital India, Start-up India, Skill India, Make in India – all of which hold tremendous potential for Indo-Finnish engagement through transfer of know-how to India, and manufacturing in India, for the Indian and global markets.