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India and Norway must engage more to ensure they aren’t “overdependent” on any one global power, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, pitching for more trade, technology and cooperation on renewable energy, which now powers all of Norway’s electricity grid. Speaking to The Hindu after the bilateral meeting this week between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Oslo, Mr. Eide said Norway would prefer that India reduces its intake of Russian oil, but understands its concerns on energy security.
Prime Minister Modi spoke of a golden era for ties, but Norway-India bilateral trade in goods and services is still just about $2 billion. Did your discussions focus on how to take this forward, now that the India-EFTA [European Free Trade Association] pact is in place?
India is a fast-growing economy, it has the largest population in the world, and it’s becoming really a centre of many technologies and many industries and important for us. I would also say India should be aware of the difference between interdependence, which is good, and overdependence, which is not so good. We cannot be dependent on a single source of resource or technology, and other countries then need to strengthen their bonds, and this is what we’re doing together.
The Green Strategic Partnership, announced between India and Norway, spoke about carbon credits, about renewable transitions, but we’re also seeing a focus on fossil fuel transfers, LNG, and crude oil from Norway to India. Is this also driven by an idea of trying to wean India off Russian oil?
Of course, we would be happy if India was less dependent on Russian oil, because that would be good for the situation in Ukraine. But I think, the main point here is that we want to be partners in the energy transition, which doesn’t [happen quickly]. We know that India is severely affected by the closure of the Hormuz Strait, because much of its cooking gas has been imported from Qatar and other countries on the inside of the Strait, so we take that very seriously. Although the long-term trajectory is to become even greener and more renewable, it’s important to recognise that, for instance, gas is the transition fuel on the way there. Norway is a large exporter of oil and gas, but when it comes to our domestic consumption, we have one of the highest degrees of electrification in the world, and all our electricity is 100% renewable, thanks to our hydropower and our wind power. That’s something we’re proud of.
The U.S. has overnight renewed for a third month its general open licence for sanctions waivers on Russian oil. How do you react to that development? Did it come up in your conversations with [External Affairs Minister] Mr. Jaishankar or between the two Prime Ministers?
We [U.S. and Europe] imposed these sanctions together. We thought it was important to demonstrate to Russia that we cannot condone, we cannot tolerate this grave violation of international law, because what Russia has done in Ukraine is to violate rule number one, basically, which is that they shall not intervene and occupy other countries. So that needs to have some kind of consequences, and we would prefer that the sanctions were still in place. I understand that India has a different relationship with Russia. I respect that it’s a BRICS country. What I would like to see is that India uses its good relations to send a message that the rule of law is good for all of us, and we’re much better off if we respect these principles.
Given the U.S. has broken international law repeatedly over the last year, whether it was in Venezuela, in its claims over Greenland, Iceland, or the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran that set off the war that we are all suffering the effects of. Do you think Europe has a double standard?
Well, speaking for Norway, we have been crystal clear that the [U.S.-Israel] invasion in Iran was not in line with international law, neither was the [U.S.] operation in Venezuela. We were also very clear in the case of Greenland that there is no way that a country can just say I claim the territory of another state. I am one of the first to say that we must not have double standards. I would agree that some European countries had double standards, particularly when it came to the reaction to the massive Israeli campaign, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, but Norway has always been very consistent. We have to speak up because international law should apply to all people, all places, all the time. Otherwise, it’s not the rule of international law.
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