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Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik said on Thursday (Feb 22) that his country shares a very strong relationship with India across sectors. Speaking to WION's Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, Deputy Foreign Minister Kravik said that Norway and India have had lots of interesting conversations.

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Both countries are trying to move forward on the basis of international law and mutual conversations about collaborating, he added.

Here are the excerpts:

WION: What kind of relationship do you foresee between India and Norway?

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Kravik: We have a very strong relationship with India across many, many items. So we have spoken about, you know, international law, we've spoken about multilateralism, how we cooperate for the purposes of reforming the current multilateral system, how we approach and tried to resolve some of the current crisis that we're seeing on the Gaza Strip, in Ukraine, in the Red Sea and so forth. So we've had lots of interesting conversations and trying to move forward on the basis of international law and on the basis of mutual conversations about collaborating, to find ways out of some of the current impasses that we're seeing.

Also read | Exclusive: Estonia's foreign minister talks drones, cybersecurity, and global trade in interview with WION

WION: This year, Norway is going to host the India Nordic Summit, I believe. Have you extended the invite, is some conversation happening?

Kravik: Of course, we're looking very much forward to hosting the prime minister from India but of course, there's now an election coming up in India. So we're very respectful about that process as that needs to go forward. But once that process has been completed, the invitations will go out. And we're looking forward to hosting the prime minister in Oslo.

Also watch | Norway's Deputy FM Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik speaks to WION on India-Nordic relationship

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WION: Sir, when it comes to global conflicts, global crises, whether it's the Red Sea crisis, the Israel-Gaza or Ukraine...what kind of conversations you've had with your Indian counterpart?

Kravik: So we've had several conversations. We've had some macro conversations in terms of what should be our yardstick when approaching these issues and I think we agree that their international law needs to be our yardstick. We need to respect the UN Charter, we need to respect...the legal rules that apply between countries and between states and that is good, it needs to give guidance for all of us in terms of what we can do and what we can't do.

We have been very clear, and I think that message has also resonated with our Indian counterparts [that] what Russia did was a violation of international law and that's something that needs to be addressed. And we're very committed to seeing that go forward that...there needs to be a solution within the parameters of international law.

And we've been trying to be very principled also on some of these other issues that we've been discussing, or alluded to the issue of the Gaza conflict or the Gaza crisis, again, internationalised our yardstick.

And we've been saying from the start that there needs to be a two-state solution... there needs to be so that's sort of the end state we think, but in the interim, we need to have a ceasefire. We need to have humanitarian goods and services delivered. That's something that we're trying to facilitate.

We've been increasing our humanitarian efforts. Towards the Gaza Strip, of course, our contributions to the agencies that are directly involved, notably, you know, this UN agency is something that we have prioritised and I think that's also something that is resonating with our Indian counterparts.

And then finally, on the issue of the Red Sea, again, international law is our yardstick and what the Houthis have done in terms of firing at civilian vessels that have no relation to the conflict in the Gaza Strip is just something that we can't accept, we can't tolerate.

We've been we're part of the coalition of states that are working out of the rubric regarding prosperity. India has also been very, very clear about...this, ...we're very like-minded and our positions are aligned.