‘Ukraine needs to win this war’: Iceland PM says India and Nordics have different views on Russia, but common cause with peace

At the India-Nordic Summit, both you and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the importance of the word Sambandh- which means ‘relations’ in Hindi. What does it mean for you?

Sambandh is an Icelandic word in its purest form, so it was very endearing to hear PM Modi use this word too. I mean, we’ve built our prosperity based on international relations, although a lot of things we’ve done well on our own. We are a small country, we are geographically isolated in a lot of ways, and so I don’t want to belittle what Icelanders have done on their own. We’re a very proud nation, but one of our, you know, many of our biggest feats when it comes to prosperity and driving progress, have been increased international relationships throughout the history. Maybe, it has been with Europe and the U.S. thus far, but we’re also looking towards Asia, and India is obviously going to be a big part of that.

Is the emergence of the relationship between India and Nordic countries driven by concerns that the three big powers right now are seen as breaking the international rule of law?

I mean, this relationship between the Nordics and India has a longer history than what we have seen over the course of the last couple of years, so I don’t want to tie it directly to that, but I think, as a general, a lot of countries are looking outward, things are shifting, new deals are being done, you see this with the EU as well, you see it with Canada, and now with India. So there are opportunities that come out of situations like this, I think the most important message out of this summit is, you know, there’s hope for international relations. There are still large democratic countries like India that are opening up instead of closing off, and this is what the world needs to hear.

Even so, there’s a basic difference between Nordic countries and India, and that is over ties with Russia. India is the permanent observer at the Arctic Council, which doesn’t seem to be able to work right now because of the differences within. How do you see India’s role when it comes to Nordic countries, as well as its very strong relationship with Russia?

I won’t deny that India has a different relationship with Russia than the Nordics do. That has a historical chapter as well tied to it, and it’s not my intention to step directly into that. I do know, however, that Prime Minister Modi wants this war to end, and I think we’re all on that page. The way that we’re approaching it, might be a bit different, but I think we also need to be realistic towards the fact that we’re standing our ground on Ukraine. We’ve said Ukraine needs to win this war. For small Nordic countries, this is important, that people respect the rule of law, they respect borders, that we don’t set up double standards. We had the issue with Greenland come up that has, you know, touched on us in very direct ways, and we want to make sure that we don’t set a precedent in that regard. So, Prime Minister Modi knows exactly how we feel about that. That doesn’t mean that we can’t interact at other levels, but we’ve sent out clear messages on our stand on Ukraine.

India and Iceland trade relations are nascent, just about 30-40 million dollars.  Where do you see the biggest growth areas? And do you plan a visit to India?

I would love to go to India. I think that’s definitely something that we’re looking into. We should work with what we already have. We have a great relationship when it comes to renewables. We have a lot more to give on that. There’s so many growth potential for India there with its goal on 500 gigawatts renewable energy. So there’s a lot of projects that can be driven out of that. I do, however, know that we also have potential in cultural ties, we discussed the Indian film industry, for example. We have had outside film crews coming in and using Icelandic territory as backdrop. I think that would be a very interesting cooperation that we could have. And then also, just in general, when it comes to high-skilled labour. Just this weekend we had municipality elections in Iceland. I knocked on the door of an Indian couple that had come to work in the pharmaceutical sector in Iceland. So we have these stories of people coming to Iceland with their skills, becoming a part of the community in a very positive way. So there’s also development opportunities there.

On that issue, it does seem when we speak to the Indian community that their worry is that they are no longer welcome the way they used to be, as immigration becomes a bigger issue in Europe. What is the future of migration, given that Nordic countries still need a lot of labour?

I understand that. I think there’s been a big shift in attitudes to migration, especially when it comes to, I mean, I can only speak from my part of the world, where we may have been pushed into a setting where we’re focusing too much on low-skilled, low-value immigration. These are highly egalitarian countries, and I think when we go down that road of movement in class instead of high-skilled, productive, high-wage labour, we get these confrontations. I don’t see that as an issue when it comes to Indian migration. These are usually people coming in with high levels of education, going into productive jobs, so it’s also a matter of how you frame it, but this is a responsibility of the government as well. What type of industries are you pushing forward? What type of employment environment are you pushing forward? Not a race to the bottom, but a race to the top, and using the skilled labour to grow further.