Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte arrives in India on Thursday for a two-day visit. He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. It will be Mark Rutte’s first visit to India after being reelected as Prime Minister in 2017. His visit comes within a year of PM Modi’s visit.
Besides the official meet with PM in New Delhi and chat session with Indian businessman, he is likely to visit Bengaluru, the Ministry of External affairs stated.
Rutte is accompanied by four cabinet ministers, including those in charge of the health, trade and infrastructure portfolios, besides a delegation of over 200 members, including 15 CEOs, academics, and government representatives. The business delegation will represent infrastructure, education, health and life sciences, water and waste management besides agro-processing.
“We have a few groups of companies with us, a few sectors of which we know India has big ambitions for,” Hans de Boer, head of the Dutch Confederation of Netherlands Industry, told a group of Indian journalists visiting The Hague last week.
“For me, it is a puzzle that economic relations are not at a higher level,” de Boer said. “You have had your orientation mostly on the UK. So, most companies are there and only 180 companies here,” de Boer said, referring to Indian companies using the UK as a springboard to do business with Europe.
Brexit, he said, would bring more Indian companies—looking to deepen business links with Europe—to the Netherlands. Besides, de Boer said that “in the coming decades, India will take off and we want to be part of that”.
India and The Netherlands have a bilateral trade of 5.39 billion dollars. The Netherlands is the 5th largest investor in India. The Netherlands is also home to a 2 lakh 35 thousand strong Indian Diaspora, the largest in any mainland European country.
