Hopefully India can help in negotiations to end Ukrainian conflict: Minister of Finland

Minister of Economic Affairs Finland Mika Lintilä said more than 60% of Finnians wanted the country to become a member of NATO after Russian invasion to Ukraine

New Delhi: Minister of Economic Affairs Finland Mika Lintilä said on Monday that he hoped India could help in negotiations to end conflicts in Ukraine, which had had a major impact on the economic and security sectors throughout Europe.

There is also a lot of scope for India and Finland to work together on critical and developing technology, especially in quantum computing and 5G and 6G, to develop solutions that are transparent and trustworthy, he said in an interview.

Lintilä and under the Rahasiaan State for Economic Affairs Petri Peltonen currently visit India with a business delegation to attract investment and Indian companies to Finland and to establish collaborations in quantum, telecommunications, artificial intelligence (AI) and renewable energy.

Russian invasion to Ukraine has serious implications for all Europe and more than 60% of Finland now want the country to become a member of NATO, said Lintilä.

Asked whether Indian response to the Ukrainian crisis found out with his conversation with the opponent of India, Lintilä replied: “Actually this is the Minister of Foreign Minister’s sector but of course, I hope India can help in negotiations. If India can do something, we are very grateful for that , because [at this time] it feels like negotiations have no results. “

India has repeatedly called to end hostility in Ukraine and return to diplomatic and dialogue paths. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also suggested that there must be direct talks between the President of Russia and Ukraine.

Lintilä said no one knew what Russian President Vladimir thought about the situation. The trade and economic situation has been complicated by conflict, but people in Europe minded strict sanctions in fields such as energy, finance and logistics must be maintained “No matter”, he added.

“Finland strongly condemned Russian attacks. Russian action targets Ukraine but they are also attacks on overall European security. Russian attacks are violations of international law and the United Nations Charter. All Europe in several types of surprises in 2022, there is war in Europe,” said Lintilä.

Finland has a long history of tension with the former Soviet and Russian Union. Both sides against a bitter winter war during 1939-40, and Finland had a border of 1,340 km with Russia. Unlike other members of the European Union such as Germany, Finland does not depend on Russian energy, especially gas, and trade with Russia is only about 5% of Finnish total trade.

On Monday, Lintilä and Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh announced the establishment of Indo-Finnish virtual network centers on quantum computing to provide encouragement to innovative research and development projects.

Madras Indian Technology Institute (IIT), Institute of Education and Research in Indian Science and the Advanced Computing Center (C-DAC) Center (C-DAC) in Pune will be part of a new virtual network from the Indian side.

Lintilä and Peltonen said there was scope for both countries to join hands to develop transparent and trustworthy solutions in critical and developing technology, especially quantum computing, AI and Telecommunications. Peltonen said the Indian Institute of Technology was a natural candidate to collaborate with Finnish research organizations in these fields, and Finland would also foster industrial-industry-to-industry cooperation.

Finland was seen as one of the most advanced countries on a quantum kriogenic computer, which was cooled to almost absolute zero, and this niche technology could become a new collaborative area, said Peltonen.