NEW DELHI: India and the Netherlands announced 17 outcomes at the end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to that country, which concluded Sunday afternoon. Commitments included deepening bilateral cooperation in semiconductors, critical minerals, renewable energy and green transition, defence co-production, mobility, horticulture and dairying.
The Netherlands is one of India’s largest trade destinations in Europe, with bilateral trade worth $27.8 billion (2024-25). It is India’s fourth largest investor with cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) of $55.6 billion.
The joint statement issued at the end of PM Modi’s two-day visit to The Hague stated that the Netherlands with its world class logistics network serves as a strategic gateway to Europe for Indian exporters, including via the Rotterdam port. India in turn offers a vast and dynamic market for Dutch companies, and has a vast and skilled talent pool, it said.
Among the highlights of the PM’s trip was an agreement inked by Tata Electronics with Dutch semiconductor equipment supplier ASML to support the former’s chip fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat. PM Modi and counterpart Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten welcomed the agreement. ASML is one of the leading suppliers for high-precision lithography equipment, a critical requirement in manufacturing of semiconductor chips.
The Netherlands was the second leg of the PM’s overseas tour. He landed in Gothenburg, Sweden’s manufacturing hub on Sunday evening, where he will have talks with his Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and address the European Roundtable for Industry.
India and the Netherlands elevated their relationship to a ‘strategic partnership’. The two sides adopted a strategic partnership road map to foster closer ties by regular and structured cooperation in all areas, including political, trade and investment, defence and security cooperation, critical and emerging technologies, and energy transition, among others.
Modi and Jetten welcomed the establishment of a Joint Trade and Investment Committee and the Fast Track Mechanism to expand bilateral trade and investment leveraging the India-European free trade agreement. They discussed the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as the conflict in West Asia and its implications on disruptions to global energy supplies and trade networks. The two sides called for freedom of navigation and global flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz. They also called for a free, open and peaceful Indo-Pacific region, based on respect for international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, freedom of navigation and “absence of coercion and conflicts”.
In the domain of emerging technology, the two sides welcomed the initiative to connect the Dutch Semicon Competence Centre to the Indian Semiconductor Mission (ISM), for the Indo-Dutch Semicon Online School. A pact was signed between Eindhoven University of Technology and University of Twente with six Indian leading technical institutes, including Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science as well as Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi, Gandhinagar, Mumbai and Chennai for a brain bridge in semiconductors and related technologies. This includes industry partnerships from NXP Semiconductors, ASML, Tata group and CG Semi Pvt Ltd.
In renewable energy (RE), the leaders launched the India-Netherlands roadmap on the development of green hydrogen. The Netherlands will collaborate with NITI Aayog for capacity building in green transition and energy security, while the University of Groningen (RUG) and 19 IITs will share academic cooperation. An agreement on strategic partnership on water, including Dutch expertise for the Kalpasar Project in Gujarat, was inked. The two leaders underscored the significance of cooperation in WAH (Water, Agriculture and Health), a statement said.
India will receive Dutch expertise in development of a strategic green and digital sea corridor, medical devices, for setting up Centres of Excellence in agri-related sectors in India, for an Indo-Dutch centre of excellence on training in dairy at the centre of excellence for animal husbandry (CEAH), Bengaluru, and a centre of excellence for flowers in West Tripura. Modi and Jetten also participated in a ceremony where the University of Leiden returned the Chola Era Copper Plates to the Indian authorities.
The two sides decided to work towards a defence industrial road map for promoting cooperation between the defence industry and research centres, the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and the Netherlands Industry for Defence and Security (NIDV), plan structured joint tri-services interaction and explore avenues on technology collaboration of platforms and equipment between. The two PMs addressed top Dutch industry leaders at the CEO round table with 16 top CEOs from the Netherlands in attendance.
At a briefing of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in The Hague after the conclusion of talks, Dutch media journalists sought a response on PM Jetten’s reported remarks that the Netherlands and the EU are worried about press freedom and minority rights, among them the Muslim community and smaller communities, and whether it came up during the discussions between the two PMs. Sibi George, Secretary (West) in the MEA said he had not seen the Dutch PM’s statement. He said questions on these issues stem from a lack of understanding of the person who asks the question.
The MEA official said India is a land of diversity where four religions have originated, namely, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. He said Jews have lived in India for 2,500 years and never faced any persecution. He added that Christianity came to India immediately after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, much before it reached Europe and continues to flourish with more than 30 million Christians in India. Islam came to India during the time of Prophet Muhammad himself and flourished in India, he said, adding that this is “the beauty of India”.
George added that India has a democratically elected government, and it is a country where peaceful transition of power takes place. There are 900 million smartphones in India, symbolising freedom of expression, which makes India a very noisy democracy and we are proud of that, he said. “We are a sixth of the total population of the world but not a sixth of the problems of the world. This is the beauty of India, which makes us proud. So, every minority thrives. When we became independent, the minority population in India was 11 per cent. Now it is more than 20 per cent. Name a country where the population of minorities has gone up, you won’t find it other than India. This is the beauty of India,” he said.
On Saturday, the PM addressed the Indian diaspora, including several whose ancestors had travelled to Suriname as indentured labourers, and who had then migrated to the Netherlands as it was a Dutch colony until 1975. He said the Indian government has extended the eligibility for the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) Card for the Surinamese Hindustani community from the fourth generation to the sixth generation.
Source: Business Standard
