Norwegian leader Ine Eriksen Soreide has said there is a potential for India and Norway to collaborate in sectors like climate change, green transition, and ocean management.

Soreide, who is the Leader of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Parliament of Norway, also praised the trade deal between India and EFTA nations, which he said will deepen collaboration between New Delhi and Oslo, reported ANI.

Speaking to the Indian news agency, he said: "We are here as the members of the Foreign Affairs and Defence committee and we have been having meetings both in ministries and in Parliament…We have been discussing everything from geopolitics to regional issues and the growing collaboration between India and Norway.”

She said many Norwegian companies are keen to invest in India.

“It (India-Norway ties) has huge potential. When I was the foreign minister, we issued an India strategy, which was the first ever from Norway’s side and this has been followed by an agreement on FTA between EFTA and India, which offers huge potential for doing more trade and collaboration,” the Norwegian leader said.

“Many Norwegian companies are interested in investing in India…There is huge potential between the two countries…We have been talking about research collaboration on climate change, which is very important globally…We have joint interests in areas such as climate change, technology, green transition and ocean management,” she told ANI.

In  March, India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA).

The main highlights of the agreement are EFTA’s commitment to promote investments to increase the stock of foreign direct investments by $ 100 billion in India in the next 15 years, and to facilitate the generation of 1 million direct employment in India, through such investments, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

EFTA is an inter-governmental organization set up in 1960 for the promotion of free trade and economic integration for the benefit of its four member states.