India, Iceland agree to strengthen bilateral economic relations

India and Iceland on Tuesday held discussions on bilateral issues as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest and agreed to strengthen the bilateral economic relations between the countries, such as in the areas of renewable energy, particularly geothermal energy, tourism, start-ups and extended trade relations.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of Iceland Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson discussed the issues during the latter's visit to India from April 3 to 9.

He was accompanied by a business delegation organized by 'Promote Iceland'.

To further strengthen the relations between the two countries the ministers agreed to work on increasing the number of high-level official visits between the two countries and advocate for further mutual visits of business delegations between the two countries.

Sveinsson had a separate meeting with Minister of State (Independent charge) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman and had fruitful discussions on the ways of increasing the volume of bilateral trade and diversifying the trade basket between the two countries.

The ministers discussed the importance of reaching an early conclusion of the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the EFTA countries.