Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a three day trip to Europe from 2 to May 4 2022, met leaders from Germany, Denmark and France and participated in the Second Nordic Summit (the First Summit was held in 2018 in Stockholm). The visit comes when the global leaderships are trying individually and collectively to find solutions to the war in Ukraine, existent and threatening issues like climate change, increased protectionism, a further rise of religious fundamentalism, widespread economic distress, and pandemic impacts.

After the tragic downing of flight MH17, the US along with some major European countries has called for “hard-hitting sanctions” on Russia. The UK is pushing for the tough “Tier 3” sanctions against Russia that could cover areas such as financial services, trade and energy exports. However, there are growing concerns that the strongest-possible sanctions will be blocked by EU member states because of French arms sales as well as German dependence on fossil fuels from Russia.

The Arctic Circle is the new circumpolar forum to address Arctic issues. It is the brainchild of Ólafur Grímsson, Iceland’s President and his team comprising of Prince Albert II of Monaco, Greenlandic Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski and Russian explorer Artur Chilingarov, who seek to engage a number of stakeholders through an inclusive process. The forum was launched at the National Press Club in Washington in March 2013 and aims to provide opportunities to a variety of stakeholders to present their views on ‘Arctic matters’.