India’s Prime Minister Modi had as part of his official visit to Denmark been invited to meet a delegation of Danish business leaders yesterday afternoon.

As a representative of Danish shipping, chairman of Danish Shipping and CEO of TORM, Jacob Meldgaard had been invited to the meeting and therefore had the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister and emphasize the importance of a close relationship with India.

“It was a great honour to meet Prime Minister Modi as India is a very important partner for Danish shipping. First and foremost because Danish shipping companies employ many skilled Indian seafarers who are indispensable to us. And moreover because India is a large export market and Danish ships have more than 4,000 port calls in India per year,” says Jacob Meldgaard and continues:

“During COVID-19 we established a hub for crew change in Copenhagen Airport. More than 4,000 seafarers used this and many of them were Indians. It was good way to give back something to a nation that means so much to Danish shipping. And I had the opportunity to thank PM Modi for India’s commitment to the Zero-Emissions Shipping Mission and emphasize the importance of the green strategic partnership between Denmark and India,” says Jacob Meldgaard.

In addition to Indian seafarers, many Danish shipping companies have offices in India and therefore also many Indian land-based employees.

In 2021 Danish shipping companies exported for more than 16 billion DKK to India which makes it Danish shipping’s third largest single export market.