Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with his Netherlands counterpart, Ruben Brekelmans, in Delhi on Tuesday.
Brekelmans is visiting India to attend the Raisina Dialogue, which is currently underway in New Delhi from March 17. The Raisina Dialogue 2025 is being hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). It is India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, aimed at addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community.
Nearly 3,700 attendees, including over 800 speakers and delegates from around 130 countries worldwide, are attending the Raisina Dialogue. The participants include serving and former heads of state, ministers, lawmakers, diplomats, policy planners, military leaders, heads of multilateral institutions, business leaders, and eminent thinkers. The theme of this year’s Raisina Dialogue is “Kalachakra: People, Peace, Planet.”
Earlier this month, Netherlands Ambassador to India, Marisa Gerards, stated that India and the Netherlands share a “very strong bilateral relationship.”
“We have a very strong bilateral relationship. We go back a long way. We were one of the first countries to recognize the independence of India. We have significant trade and investment ties,” she said.
Speaking to ANI, Gerards mentioned that the Netherlands is the fourth-largest foreign investor in India, with around 300 Dutch companies operating here.
“We are the fourth-largest investor in your country. About 300 different Dutch companies are very active. On the other hand, we also have a number of Indian companies investing in the Netherlands. Currently, we are working on a strategic partnership to explore further opportunities in trade and investment, security, innovation, and research. We collaborate across various sectors, including water management, health, agriculture, energy, ports, logistics, and climate. Innovation and high-tech research are key areas of cooperation, which strengthens our relationship,” she said.
However, Gerards believes that there is still much more to be done. She emphasized that the green energy sector holds great potential for further collaboration.
“I think there’s a lot of room for further growth. Green energy, particularly green hydrogen, is very high on our agenda. We are also collaborating with both the central government and companies in Gujarat. Several Dutch companies are involved in your ports. The Port of Rotterdam, which is the largest port in Europe, is keen to explore more opportunities in the areas of green energy and green hydrogen,” Gerards added.
ANI
