IANS
MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 13
Finland on Saturday expressed its support for India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
“The Prime Minister of Finland reiterated the support of Finland to India to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council,” a joint statement issued following a bilateral meeting here between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Finnish counterpart Juha Sipila said. “The two countries called for forward movement in the intergovernmental negotiations on United Nations Security Council reform, and expressed their commitment to initiate text-based negotiations within the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly,” it stated.
Sipila is in Mumbai to attend the ‘Make in India Week’ that got underway here on Saturday. He along, with Modi, jointly digitally inaugurated Finnish firm Trivitron’s Labsystems Diagnostics IVD (in-vitro diagnostics) factory in Chennai.
According to the statement, in their joint effort to strengthen global non-proliferation objectives and the multilateral export control regimes, Sipilä took a positive view on India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and Missile Technology Control Regime. “Both prime ministers acknowledged that there is wide convergence in views on the international political and economic situation,” it said.
Both the leaders also “condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterated zero tolerance for this menace which seriously undermines international peace and security, growth and development”.
The two prime ministers agreed on the need to tap the full potential of the European Union (EU)-India strategic partnership and welcomed the prospect of resumption of talks on the India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA).
There are over 100 Finnish companies in India and some 25 Indian companies in Finland.
