Iceland Minister of Foreign affairs to visit India

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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, arrived in India on an eight-day visit to the country on Friday morning.

Thordarson is scheduled to address the Iceland-India Business Seminar at The Oberoi hotel in the city later in the day, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

On December 8, the Icelandic Foreign Minister will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan and hold talks over bilateral issues.

Thordarson would then depart for Agra on December 9, where he is slated to attend a programme. On December 10, he would pay a visit to Jaipur to attend an event.

On the morning of December 14, the Icelandic Foreign Minister would depart for Reykjavik.

India and Iceland have despite the distance and contrast in population size, reached out to each other to build a friendship based on shared values and mutuality of interests. A string of high-level visits since 2000 have imparted a new dynamism to the bilateral relations, sustained by the opening of resident missions (in New Delhi in February 2006 and in Reykjavik in August 2008).

Iceland was the first Nordic country to publicly extend support to India’s candidature for permanent membership of United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Subsequently, Iceland has reiterated its position on many occasions.

Iceland was also the first country to co-sponsor the draft G-4 framework resolution on UNSC reforms in 2005. Iceland was one of the countries co-sponsoring India’s resolution at the UN to declare June 21 as the “International Day of Yoga”.