Bilateral trade with Iceland will strengthen: Pratibha Patil

India today expressed hope that bilateral trade and investment will be strengthened with Iceland and new mutually beneficial opportunities between the two countries will be opened up.
    
Speaking at the banquet in honour of visiting Iceland president Olafur Raganar Grimsson, president Pratibha Patil said the cultural, educational and youth exchanges should be expanded.
    
She said the splendours of nature that Iceland is gifted coupled with India's traditional and holistic health approaches such as Ayurveda could create a new dimension in the area of wellness tourism.
    
Patil said both India and Iceland were committed to the principles enshrined in the charter of United Nations and we believe that there is an urgent need to reform the world body in pace with contemporary realities.
    
"We greatly value Iceland's support for our just aspirations to be represented in a reformed UN Security Council."
    
The visiting president in his speech recalled that during his Presidency, efforts have been taken to bring the two nations closer together fulfilling a dream, created in a dialogue with Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi more than a quarter century ago.
    
He said the rich research data, which have deepened their knowledge of the glaciers in Iceland, of the Greenland ice-sheet and the Arctic can also be used to monitor developments in the Himalayas and their impact on water resources, soil and food production.