Welcome to Indo-Icelandic Business Association

Welcome to Indo Icelandic Business Association

The Indo Icelandic Business Association was established 12 January 2010 in New Delhi to promote trade, investment, cultural and bilateral relations between India and Iceland. The IIBA operates in accordance with its Memorandum of Society that stipulates the association´s role, governance, rules and procedures. The IIBA assists interested and concerned parties from both countries to establish Business, commercial and cultural relations. Further the IIBA takes up matters of mutual interest including Business opportunities or trade issues with appropriate political and administrative bodies.

News:#IIBA Business Delegation to accompany Hon. President of India HE Shri Ram Nath Kovind to Iceland from September 9th to September 11th, 2019. # His Excellency Mr. Gudmundur Arni Stefansson appointed as Ambassador of Iceland in India # Foreign Minister His Excellency Mr. Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson gets Business Delegation to India

40 member IIBA delegation to Iceland !!

The Indo Icelandic Business Association organised a 40 member business delegation to Iceland from September 27 to October 3, 2023.

The delegation was received by the honourable Ambassador of India to Iceland His Excellency Ambassador B. Shyam and a reception was hosted for the delegates at the India House.

The delegation was represented by various business sectors, mainly healthcare, energy, aviation, travel and tourism seafood, fintech, legal and compliance, fashion, education, textiles, hardware goods, jewellery, accessories, culinary arts and high-tech.

The delegation was invited to visit the Hellesheidi power plant and the CARBFIX facility and a guided trip was organised by CARBFIX.

B2B event “India Icelandic Business Forum“ was organised at the Grand Reykjavík Hotel on on September 29 in collaboration with the Embassy of India, the Icelandic India Trade Council and Business Iceland.

The forum was opened by the Honourable President of Iceland, His Excellency Gudni Th. Johannesson who eloquently highlighted the strengths and array of possibilities between both the countries.

The session was followed by speeches and presentations by distinguished speakers, Ambassador of India, H. E. B. Shyam, founder of start-up Iceland - Bala Kamallakharan, Chairman of the IIBA and CEO of Divish Aurum Private Limited - Prasoon Dewan, Business Development Manager for Carbfix - Edda B Ragnarsdottir, founder of Iceland Ocean Cluster - Thor Sigfusson and Vice President for Alvotech - Johan Johansson.

The session was progressed by an open floor to the panellist from Iceland air - , Prasoon Dewan from IIBA, Bala Kamallakharan from Start up Iceland, Manish Maheshwari from Invenire Energy and Dr Suninder Arora from Batra Hospital for a round of questionnaire.

The event was meticulously coordinated by the Head of Chancery, Embassy of India - Ms. Anisha Tomar.

A letter of intent and cooperation was signed between the IIBA and CARBFIX which was duly exchanged in the presence of the Honourable President of Iceland and the Honourable Ambassador of India to Iceland.

The Permanent Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iceland hosted a reception to welcome the delegates at the ministry.

The occasion was graced by his Excellency Martin Eyloffson, Mrs Eva and Hon. Ambassador of India besides all the delegates.

The Indian Association in Iceland hosted a reception and welcomed the delegates. It was a fun filled evening with interaction between the resident Indians in Iceland and the visiting delegates.

The delegation took some time out for leisure and covered the Golden Circle, black sand beach, couple of waterfalls and a few more tourist destinations besides the Blue Lagoon.

All the events were seamless and the entire visit was a grand success.

The delegation departed for Estonia on October 3, 2023. The Honourable Ambassador of India to Estonia, His Excellency Ajaneesh Kumar welcomed the delegation to the mission over a reception and discussed various opportunities. Later the delegation was invited by the business promotion agency of Estonia who updated the latest with a very informative presentation.

The delegation took some time off for sightseeing before departing back.

A special mention and thanks to the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi - India, the Embassy of Iceland in India and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Iceland for their warm, welcome and unconditional support extended during the entire process.

New Delhi and Invest India

A seminar on Innovation in business was organized by the Indo Icelandic Business Association (IIBA) at the Imperial Hotel, New Delhi on March 7, 2023, in cooperation with the Embassy of Icland - New Delhi and Invest India. The seminar was presided over by H.E. Martin Eyjolfsson, Permanent Secretary of State- Ministry of External Affairs, Iceland.

The welcome address by the Ambassador, Gudni Bragason was followed by an address by Prasoon Dewan, Chairman, IIBA.

The Keynote address was delivered by H.E. Martin Eyjolfsson.

Invest India made a detailed presentation of existing possibilities between both the countries. Vardha Taneja, Vice President, Invest India , raised thoughtful business proposals / ideas. There was an active offline & online participation by members of IIBA and Public Sector Units that included Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian oil corporation Ltd., Oil India Ltd., Ministry of Renewable Energy, leading companies of India and Iceland -GEG Power, OSSUR, Marel, Kerecis and Carbon Recycle International (CRI). The seminar was fruitful in bringing diverse viewpoints collaboratively and effectively across the table.

India to Iceland: Building Bridges for Gender Equality

An intriguing session on Gender Equality was hosted by The Embassy of Iceland in cooperation with the UN Women India & The Indo Icelandic Business Association at We the Peoples Hall- UN House, Lodhi Estate on March 7th, 2023, to celebrate International Women's Day.

The Ambassador of Iceland to India, H.E. Gudni Bragason began the proceedings with a welcome address along with Ms. Susan Ferguson, Country representative, UN Women India; H.E. Martin Eyjolfsson, Permanent Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland presided over the event and Ms. Joyce Poan, Programme Specialist, Chief of Education, UNESCO, New Delhi addressed representatives from different sectors of Education, Media, Social workers, Women's Rights Activists and other dignitaries.

They spoke vividly about the significance of initiating work and cooperation on gender equality, inclusion, framing suitable laws, their smooth implementation and simultaneous work upon changing mindsets of populations worldwide in general. Alumni GEST student Representatives also participated enthusiastically and shared their experiences of the training (on gender equality) pursued by them in Iceland and their application thereafter in various arenas of professional work back in India.

Ambassador of Iceland in India, His Excellency Gudni Bragason, was warmly welcomed to Dehradun

Bragson also called on Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at the Chief Minister's residence along with the Chairman of the Indo Icelandic Business Association - Prasoon Dewan. On this occasion, bilateral trade and cultural promotion, education tourism, fisheries, geothermal energy in the form of green energy and other possibilities were discussed between the two sides. Bragson, appreciated the work being done by the state government in the direction of tourism, education, self-employment, self-reliant India.
A reception was held in his honour at Hotel Madhuban on his visit to Dehradun. The reception was organised by the Chairman of the Indo Icelandic Business Association (IIBA), Prasoon Dewan. Bragason's Doon visit organised in collaboration with IIBA was intended to explore the possibilities of bilateral trade and culture between India and Iceland.

Speaking on the occasion, Bragason said that he was happy to be in Uttarakhand and the beautiful city of Dehradun, and he added that Iceland was looking forward to discuss mutual opportunities in the field of education, culture, tourism, renewable energy, environment, hi tech, software, gaming, films, healthcare, food processing, fishery, gender equality, women empowerment including Uttarakhand.

He added that he had joined his present posting as Ambassador of Iceland to India in July this year and was looking forward to having a fruitful tenure in India. He also praised the efforts of IIBA in organising the programme and for promoting trade and relations between the two countries.
It may be recalled that The Indo Icelandic Business Association (IIBA) aims at supporting collaboration, knowledge transfer and provides updated information about political, economical, cultural or legislative issues relevant to business and commerce while functioning in close cooperation with the Embassy of Iceland in India.
On the occasion IIBA's Advisory Board member Siddharth Swaminathan and members Dalip Dua, Pooja Marwah and Ritesh Sapra were present. The reception was attended by The Deputy Head of the Icelandic Mission Sigthor Hilmisson and Trade Councellor at the Embassy Rahul Chongtham who also holds the position of the secretary of the IIBA.
Philanthropist Dr S Farooq, owner of Garhwal Post & Actor Satish Sharma, BJP's Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj, Saurabh Thapliyal, Veteran Journalist & Actor Dr Anjali Nauriyal, Wing-Commander (Retd) Anupama Joshi, Rakesh Oberoi, Anil Goyal, Pankaj Gupta, Anoop Nautiyal, were also present amongst others.
Ambassador of Iceland with his team and the Chairman of the IIBA visited The Doon School, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology after a very fruitful meeting with the minister of Renewable Energy Mr Harak Singh Rawat and concluded the two day trip to Uttarakhand while visiting the holy city Rishikesh.

Date: November 13th, 2021

IIBA welcomes His Excellency Mr. Gudni Bragason - Ambassador of Iceland to India on his current tenure.

The Indo Icelandic Business Association ( IIBA) organised a member's luncheon meeting at the Imperial Hotel on September 24th, 2021 to welcome the incoming Ambassador of Iceland His Excellency Gudni Bragason on his current tenure to India.

The Chairman of the IIBA - Prasoon Dewan introduced all the members to the incoming Ambassador and thanked the members for their continuous support in progressing the IIBA into a healthy and active association. All the members interacted with Ambassador on a one to one basis and shared their ideas on strengthening the ties between both countries. The Chairman then requested Ambassador to address the meeting.

Ambassador Guðni Bragason addressed the meeting and thanked the IIBA members for their engagement in trade relations between the countries. The Ambassador emphasized the good international cooperation of Iceland and India in various fields, and spoke of the importance of security cooperation, human rights and sustainable development. The new head of the Trade Promotion Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Svanhvít Aðalsteinsdóttir, participated in the meeting on-line from Reykjavík, as well as Mr Einar Hansen Tómasson, Head of Energy and Green Solutions at the Business Iceland agency, who presented a new Icelandic emphasis on green solutions in business, trade and production.

The meeting was attended by the following members of the IIBA - Ranjit kumar, Sameer Londhe, Vijay Bhatia, Rahul Chongtham, Ravi Singh, Deepika Sachdev, Dr. Manish Chugh, Dalip Dua, Naresh Pande, Akshara Dalal, Siddharth Swaminathan, Shivkant Arora, Winnerjit Singh, Sunil Kumar, Lovneet Thakur, Sukhvinder Kang, Savi Grover, Anita Malik, Rajbir Singh, Dr. Mandeep Singh, Bhuvan Madan, Vishaveer Singh, Ankur Bhargava, Anumeha Soni and Prasoon Dewan

IIBA Delegation Accompanies Hon. President of India -
His Excellency Shri Ram Nath Kovind to Iceland

Following a very successful business delegation to Iceland in June, another delegation of the IIBA members accompanied the Hon. President of India His Excellency Shri Ram Nath Kovind to Iceland from September 9 - 11th, 2019. Besides several MOU's between the respective governments, four letter of Intent and Cooperation were signed by the IIBA and its members in the field of films and television, education, arts and culture. An exclusive LOI & C was signed between the India Iceland Trade Council (IITC) & the IIBA to extend support and cooperation in the field of business and culture.

The delegation was widely supported by HE Gudmundur Arni Stefansson - Ambassador of Iceland in India and HE T. Armstrong Changsan - Ambassador of India in Iceland. The delegation of the IIBA was led by Mr. Prasoon Dewan - Chairman and attended by the following members Mr Dalip Dua, Mr. Saurabh Sharma, Lt Cdr Vijay Saxena, Mrs Anita Malik, Mr. Vijay Bhatia, Mr. Virendra Agarwal, Ms Saloni.
Members of ASSOCHAM, FICCI, IMC also accompanied the Presidential Delegation.

Message from Mr. H.E Gudmundur Árni Stefánsson
Former Ambassador of Iceland in India

The Embassy of Iceland has been working very closely with Indo Icelandic Business Association (IIBA) over the years in enhancing business and cultural ties between Iceland and India.

IIBA is the voice of the business community as well as individuals who are striving to further strengthen relations between the two nations and I am honoured to be associated with this vibrant group of intellectuals and business leaders.

Iceland presents opportunities in varied fields including marine sector, renewable energy, cleantech, food processing, biotech, IoT and medical devices. I would also like to highlight that electricity production in Iceland is 100% renewable energy (70% hydro & 30% geothermal) which is available at very competitive rates presenting an excellent opportunity for Indian investors to invest in power intensive sectors such as Data Centers, carbon fibre and ferrosilicon manufacturing, etc. Lastly but not least, Iceland is the land of pure and unspoiled nature and it has become one of the favourite destinations for Indian tourists and film industry.

Recently a group of IIBA members visited Iceland and I´m sure that the visit, the meetings with the business society and officials in Iceland will open new doors in near future.

There are lot of opportunities around the corner and I´m confident that we will see growth in business and communications between the two countries, India and Iceland in coming years. In that development, the IIBA will play a major role.

I wish the Association, and it´s members, success in all it endeavours and look forward to our continued cooperation in furthering our objectives.

Exclusive Interview with Former Ambassador Thorir Ibsen

Shahrukh Khan on the making of Gerua song in Iceland

Message from H.E. Mr. Thorir Ibsen
Former Ambassador of Iceland in India

The Embassy of Iceland has enjoyed a longstanding and productive working relation with the Indo-Icelandic Business Association. Our mutual objective is to promote stronger business and cultural relations between Iceland and India and to foster a network of businesses and contacts engaged in Indo-Icelandic relations. I take this opportunity to congratulate the IIBA on the occasion of the launch of this new webpage which will certainly help further strengthen the Indo-Icelandic relations.

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