PM Modi invites Denmark to collaborate on alternative supply chains

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday extended an invitation to Denmark for joining India, Japan and Australia's joint effort at creating alternative supply chains to China's.

In a virtual bilateral summit hosted by India, the Prime Minister told his counterpart in Denmark, Mette Frederiksen on Monday that Covid-19 has shown that it is risky for global supply chains to be highly dependent on any single source.

Though Prime Minister Modi did not name Beijing, the international community following the Coronavirus pandemic has come to realise the pitfalls of over-dependence on China, the largest exporter of manufactured goods to the world.

The events of the past several months have made it clear how necessary it is to work together like-minded countries like ours, which share a rules-based, transparent, humanitarian and democratic value-system, he said.

"We are working together with Japan and Australia for supply-chain diversification and resilience. Other like-minded countries can also join this effort," Modi said, adding that the summit "will not only prove useful for India-Denmark relations, but will also help in building a common approach towards global challenges."

Cooperation between like-minded countries in vaccine development will also help in dealing with this pandemic, Prime Minister Modi said. During this epidemic, India's pharma production capabilities have been useful to the entire world, he said, adding that his government would go by the same approach in the field of vaccine too.

He said his 'Self-reliant India' campaign which is aimed at increasing India's capabilities in key economic sectors, will also serve the world. "Under this campaign we are emphasizing on all-round reforms. Companies working in India will benefit from regulatory and taxation reforms. In other areas too, the process of reforms is continuously on. Recently significant reforms have been made in the agriculture and labour sectors," he said.

Both the Prime Ministers signed an MOU in intellectual property cooperation. Besides, Denmark also joined International Solar Alliance (ISA). The summit comes after a phone conversation between the two leaders, a few months ago, about the increasing cooperation between India and Denmark in many areas.

Denmark has been attending the 'Vibrant Gujarat Summit' since 2009, when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. Denmark's Prime Minister proposed to host another India-Nordic Summit for Modi.

Bilateral trade in goods and services between India and Denmark has grown by 30.49 percent, from US$ 2.82 billion in 2016 to US$ 3.68 billion in 2019. Around 200 Danish companies have invested in India in sectors such as shipping, renewable energy, environment, agriculture, food processing, smart urban development.

Several major Danish companies have built new manufacturing factories under the 'Make in India' scheme. Around 25 Indian companies are present in Denmark in IT, renewable energy and engineering.