The India-North Summit will be the highlight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-nation visit starting this week, including a stop in the UAE that will focus on energy and trade cooperation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Monday that Modi will make an official visit to the UAE next May 15, during which he will meet with President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to exchange views on bilateral issues, especially cooperation in the field of energy and regional and international issues.
The two leaders will also discuss ways to enhance the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership. The statement stated that the visit will help strengthen important trade and investment ties between the two countries. The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner and the seventh largest source of investment cumulatively over the past 25 years. The statement stated that the UAE hosts more than 4.5 million Indians, and the visit will be an opportunity to discuss their well-being.
In the second leg of the visit, Modi will travel to the Netherlands from May 15 to 17. He will meet King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima and hold talks with Prime Minister Rob Gittin. This visit will build on close cooperation in the fields of defence, security, innovation, green hydrogen, semiconductors and strategic partnership in the field of water.
Modi’s visit early in the term of the new Citen government will be an opportunity to deepen and expand the bilateral partnership. The Netherlands is one of India’s largest trade destinations in Europe, with two-way trade worth $27.8 billion in 2024-25. The Netherlands is the fourth largest investor in India, with cumulative investments of $55.6 billion.
Modi is then scheduled to travel to Sweden on the third leg of the visit from May 17 to 18. He will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on bilateral relations and explore new avenues of cooperation, including boosting trade, which will be worth $7.75 billion in 2025. Swedish foreign direct investment in India during the period 2000-2025 was worth $2.825 billion, and there is close cooperation between the two sides in green transition, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, start-ups, resilient supply chains, defence, space and climate action.
Modi and Christerson will address the European Industry Roundtable, a leading pan-European business forum, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Modi is scheduled to travel to Norway from May 18 to 19 to attend the third India-Nordic summit and bilateral engagements. This will be Modi’s first visit to Norway, as well as the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country in 43 years. Modi will meet King Harald V and Queen Sonja and hold talks with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Sture.
Modi and Storr will address the Indo-Norwegian Business and Research Summit. The visit will be an opportunity to review bilateral relations and explore ways to enhance them, with a focus on trade and investment, and benefiting from the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association.
“The visit will also be an opportunity to create momentum in bilateral trade worth approximately $2.73 billion (2024), and Norwegian Government Pension Fund (GPFG) investments of approximately $28 billion in the Indian capital market,” the statement said.
“India is the world’s largest democracy and the world’s most populous country. India plays a central role in climate, technology, trade and international security. This visit underscores the importance of cooperation between India, Norway and the Nordic countries in these times of global instability. We stand together in strengthening international cooperation and a rules-based global order,” Storr said in a statement.
The India-North India summit is scheduled to be held in Oslo on May 19. Modi will be joined by Storr, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Finland’s Prime Minister Petri Örbo, Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristron Frustadóttir and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. This summit will build on the previous two summits in Stockholm in April 2018 and Copenhagen in May 2022, and will add “a more strategic dimension to India’s relationship with the Nordic countries”, especially in the areas of technology, innovation, green transition, blue economy, defence, space and the Arctic.
The visit will also provide impetus to India’s bilateral trade with the Nordic countries (worth $19 billion in 2024) and investment ties, and help build resilient supply chains following the India-EU and India-EFTA trade agreements.
In the last leg of his visit, Modi will visit Italy from May 19 to 20, where he will hold talks with his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni. He will also meet President Sergio Mattarella. The visit comes against the backdrop of the two sides proactively implementing the Joint Strategic Action Plan for the years 2025-2029, which is a roadmap for cooperation in sectors such as bilateral trade, which reached $16.77 in 2025, and enhancing investment, which cumulatively reached $3.66 billion in the period between April 2000 and September 2025.
The statement said that Modi’s visit “will deepen India’s partnership with Europe in various sectors, especially trade and investment relations, in light of the recently concluded free trade agreement between India and the European Union.”
