Finnish ambassador Mikko Kivikoski praises New Delhi’s engagement with Moscow & Kyiv; India, EU FTA to create "huge" market

Finland’s new ambassador to India has said New Delhi’s contacts with both Moscow and Kyiv are “highly, highly appreciated,” arguing that almost every major power now wants a ceasefire in Ukraine. Delhi has been engaging with both sides, calling for diplomacy to end the war, which has had a huge impact on Global South countries.

Mikko Kivikoski, who presented his credentials to President Droupadi Murmu on 25 September, said the war’s effects had already been felt across the global economy, including in energy markets. “We are in a situation where everybody else wants to have this ceasefire to stop the war except the Russians,” the Finland Ambassador told WION. “So basically all the engagement that India has is highly, highly appreciated.” Finland, he added, valued the dialogue it could hold with India “when it comes to finding solutions to the war and to make the war end as soon as possible.”

The Finland ambassador was upbeat on the India–European Union free trade agreement. Negotiations were concluded in January; & the text is due to be signed in Brussels on 16 December, with entry into force expected in early 2027 after European Parliament consent and India’s domestic procedures.

“This will create a market of two billion people, 1.5 billion in India and 0.5 billion in Europe,” Kivikoski said. “That’s a huge thing. Already now I feel it in my concrete work that it’s creating excitement and activity among the businesses.”

An investment protection agreement is expected to follow and, in his view, would further lift capital flows. The deal, he said, is “two-way traffic” and “about partnering.” It also sends a wider signal: “Rules-based international trade is something which is beneficial for all of us,” at a time when the global trading order is under strain.

On technology, he cast Finland and India as complementary rather than competing. Finland, he said, is small in population but “quite big when it comes to innovation and technologies,” while India has scale and talent. “This is quite a good match. What we wish is to help India with its ambitious goals to develop, with our technology, and of course there are lots of possibilities for our solutions and your scale.”

He pointed to a crowded bilateral calendar already this year- Finland Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's participation in the AI summit in Delhi, President Alexander Stubb’s visit in March, the Nordic–India summit in Oslo, visits by India’s external affairs and commerce ministers to Finland, and the World Circular Economy Forum in Gandhinagar, co-hosted by the two governments. “There is a context and a framework for the activities,” he said. “My job is to make this framework turn into concrete activity.”