India and Norway will jointly establish a Maritime Knowledge Cluster to promote bilateral cooperation in the blue economy, a memorandum of understanding for which has been signed between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and India’s Director-General Shipping early this month. 

The preliminary agreement was signed during the meeting of The Fourth India-Norway Task Force on Blue Economy, held virtually on 9 June. During the meet, another preliminary agreement, for setting up a Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen, was also signed between Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Greenstat, a Norwegian company.

“Blue Economy partnership is the cornerstone of the bilateral cooperation between India and Norway. Since the creation of the Task Force in 2019, our cooperation has expanded and deepened”, said Ratan Watal, the Member Secretary of Economic Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister, who represented India in the meeting. 

Hans Jacob Frydenlund, the Norwegian ambassador to India, said the bilateral partnership in the sector, through investments, has been helping to revive growth in the coastal economy which remained affected by the Covid disruption.  

“In the last year, Norwegian companies have entered into new contracts with Indian counterparts, creating jobs and enabling the transfer of green technologies,” said Frydenlund. 

The two countries have agreed to enhance cooperation on green shipping, ocean research, fisheries, energy, marine and plastic pollution, and more.