Denmark to pursue resumption of charter flights to India's Goa halted during pandemic

Denmark ambassador Freddy Svane on Saturday said he would pursue the matter of resumption of charter flights to Goa from his country. Svane met Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant here and visited the Goa legislative assembly complex where he was welcomed by Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and water resources minister Subhash Shirodkar. He also visited Basilica of Bom Jesus where the relics of St Francis Xavier are preserved.

Talking to reporters later, Svane said that charter flights connected Denmark and Goa before the COVID-19 outbreak, but they were stopped during the pandemic. “I see huge potential here for tourism. I will go back and try to see whether we can bring Goa back on the track,” he said. When the pandemic began, Denmark was working to get its citizen back from India and found that most of them were in Goa, he said.

“I think we can have a lot of cooperation over the years in energy, fishery, dairy and others. We are ready to work with Goa,” Svane said.

Several Danish companies are operating in Goa and one company is going to roll out major investment in the coastal state soon, he said, without giving any details. His discussion with the chief minister was “pro-active” and “action-oriented,” the ambassador said, adding that Denmark would like to work with Goa as it is already working with other Indian states like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Rajasthan. "We are good at energy efficiency but we can't impose on you what we are good at Denmark,” he said, adding that the country also wants to work in the fields of fishing, aquaculture and water resources with Goa. “All the drinking water in Denmark comes from underground. We would inspire our friends here to take some of the inspirations here,” he said.