Having been to India several times before, DG Solhjell expressed excitement for visiting the country once again.
“India is a deeply fascinating country, with a social progress which few other countries can show to the last decade”, he wrote on his Facebook page.
On the agenda were two key items: Discussions regarding work on digital public goods in India, and The Norway India Partnership Initative, with a visit to Udaipur in Rajasthan.
The DG met with Ambassador Hans Jacob Frydenlund, co-founder of Infosys Nandan Nilekani, writer and Board member of Digital Public Goods Alliance Tanuj Bhojwani and G20 Sherpa of India, Amitabh Kant for talks on digital public goods
Norway supports the work on the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP) to offer digital ID-systems based on Aadhaar - a 12-digit unique identity number and the world’s largest biometric ID system - to developing countries.
Digital public goods are open-source solutions that can be shared and adapted, and used as a platform for digital ID, payments, services etc.
Solhjell also visited several health clinics in Udaipur, backed by the NIPI project which have run since 2006. Read more about the NIPI-visit by clicking here.
A reception at the residence was arranged, where the DG met with important partners of the embassy on climate, environment, and energy.