New Delhi: Finland's Foreign Minister, Elina Valtonen on Thursday emphasised on the 75-year bond between India and Finland saying that the two countries are pushing to close a free-trade agreement. The Finland Foreign Minister was speaking at th sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue.

While speaking to ANI, Elina said, "I'm here together with the Nordic and Baltic countries from Europe, and we are here mainly for the Raisina dialogue, which is a very interesting conference to exchange ideas and also to meet our counterpart, the Indian Foreign Minister."

"The relationship between Finland and India has always been very close and the 75 years of diplomatic ties just go to show that we go way back, but also when it comes to trade and especially the exchange of innovation and highly skilled people, I think we have a lot we can do, but now we already have a very strong basis for collaboration," she added.

Elina Valtonen also highlighted the pivotal role of green transition, clean energy, and clean water in the ongoing discussions surrounding the India-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreements.

"Finland is very much looking forward to closing the free trade agreement with India and unfortunately, the progress has indeed been fairly slow. But we are the ones pushing it forward and we just hope that we will be finalising it soon. And in the meantime, of course, there's no hindering our companies from working even more tightly together. And that's what we try to encourage" she said.

The Finland Foreign Minister emphasised the importance of bringing this deal to fruition.

"India being the world's largest, not only country but democracy, it's hugely important for us that we are able to trade in the future with a country that shares the same value base as we do or a similar value base" she said

"There's a lot we can do through investments and trade... We have a very long-standing relationship on that side. Many companies have invested in India from Finland for years, and that's the basis we should be building," she added.

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