Iceland PM Courts India at Nordic Summit, Flags Russia Split
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- Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir, Iceland's Prime Minister, told The Hindu on the sidelines of the India-Nordic Summit in Oslo on May 19, 2026, that India and Nordic countries have launched a new engagement driven by middle powers seeking common ground amid concerns about global powers.
- Frostadóttir acknowledged that India and the Nordics hold "clear differences" over their respective ties with Russia, flagging the split even as she courted deeper cooperation.
- Frostadóttir said she hopes to discuss new areas to lift bilateral trade, which she described as currently at "extremely low levels," centering the push on renewable energy technologies.
- Frostadóttir pitched for more Indian films to be shot against Icelandic backdrops as a soft-power plank of the expanded engagement.
- At 38, Frostadóttir is one of the world's youngest heads of government and is an economist by training.
- The Hindu's reporter attended the India-Nordic Summit in Oslo at the invitation of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Why it matters: Bilateral India-Iceland trade sits at what the Icelandic PM herself called "extremely low levels," making renewable energy and film co-production the concrete near-term deliverables she is publicly staking out. The Russia divergence she flagged is the hard ceiling on the partnership: Nordic countries have distanced themselves from Moscow since 2022, while India has maintained ties, and the PM is now openly naming that gap rather than papering over it.
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