“Source:JAGRAN JOSH”
Though official relations between the two nations were established in 1947, Indo-Dutch contacts go back to more than 400 years.
India and the Netherlands on April 11, 2019 discussed ways to strengthen bilateral, political and economic ties, including boosting cooperation at the United Nations and other international forum.
This was discussed during the foreign office consultations held in New Delhi, in which the Indian side was led by A Gitesh Sarma, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs and the Dutch delegation by Johanna (Yoka) Brandt, Secretary General, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Key Highlights
• India and the Netherlands share a multi-faceted relationship. The two nations used the dialogue exchange as an opportunity to review the entire extent of bilateral relations, including political, economic, commercial, scientific and cultural cooperation. They exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues, including cooperation at the United Nations and other international forum.
• India welcomed the participation of the Netherlands as the partner country for the 25th edition of the CII-DST Tech Summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi in October 2019.
• The two nations also underlined the importance of sustaining exchanges at all levels, including the high level.
| India-Netherlands Relations |
• Though official relations between the two nations were established in 1947, Indo-Dutch contacts go back to more than 400 years.
• The main plank of the bilateral ties has been the strong economic and commercial relations. The two countries also share common ideals of democracy, pluralism and the rule of law.
• Since the early 1980s, the Dutch Government has identified India as an important economic partner. The bilateral relations underwent further intensification after India’s economic liberalisation in the early 1990s.
• In 2006, former Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende’s Government declared India, along with China and Russia, as priority countries in Dutch foreign policy. The successful visit of the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to India in June 2015 further set the stage to take the ties between the two nations to the next level.
• In 2017, PM Modi visited Netherlands, during the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between India and the nation.
• In terms of trade and investment, India has strong economic interests in the Netherlands, which, in the financial year 2016-17, was the fifth largest investor of FDI into India and the 28th largest trading partner globally.
• The Netherlands is home to a number of multinational and other companies, many of which have their production sites and business operations in India.
• Coming to the diaspora, the Netherlands has the second largest population of people of Indian origin in Europe, next only to the UK.