The maiden visit of the President to the Netherlands from April 4-7 marked a significant milestone as India, and the Netherlands celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations this year. It was also the first Head of State visit from India to the Netherlands in 34 years. Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind visited the European country at the invitation of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
In his meeting with King Willem-Alexander, the President highlighted the natural partnership and synergies between India and the Netherlands as two democracies, significant economies, drivers of innovation and technology, and critical advocates of free and open Indo-Pacific the MEA said in a statement after the visit. They discussed ways to strengthen further cooperation in priority sectors of water, agriculture, health, climate, clean energy, people-to-people and cultural cooperation. Both the leaders also exchanged views on current regional and global developments, including the situation in Ukraine.
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On Wednesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte hosted the President at a government lunch here, during which they discussed ways of further strengthening the relations between India and the Netherlands. In his discussions with the Dutch Prime Minister, the President recalled the Virtual Summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister Rutte on April 9, 2021, and the Strategic Partnership on Water announcement.
Both sides expressed happiness at the signing of the Joint Statement on Strategic Partnership on Water on March 29, 2021, between the Minister of Jal Shakti and the Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water, which lays a roadmap for intensifying bilateral cooperation in this vital sector leveraging Dutch expertise and experience in addressing several common water-related challenges, the statement said. The President welcomed Dutch start-ups and SMEs working in geospatial mapping, Artificial Intelligence, clean energy, assistive technology, and biomedical devices to ‘Make in India’ and innovate in India.
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On the sidelines of the visit, several vital documents were announced. They included: Extension of MoU on bilateral cooperation in the field of Ports, Maritime Transport, and Logistics; Extension of the Programme of Cooperation between Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Government of the Netherlands; MoU for the Cosmos Malabaricus Project between Leiden University and the Kerala Council of Historical Research, National Archives of the Netherlands on digitizing 17th-century archives and making them available to Indian and International researchers, and Extension of MoU with State Archives Department, Kerala and National Archives of the Netherlands on the execution of the Shared Cultural Heritage Programme.
The President also exchanged views with the President of the Senate, Jan Anthonie Bruijn, and President of the House of Representatives, Vera Bergkamp, on democratic practices and parliamentary exchanges. The President, who arrived in Amsterdam on Monday from Turkmenistan on the concluding leg of his two-nation visit, also addressed a gathering of the Indian community and friends of India, including representatives of Suriname-Hindustani community members in the Netherlands, where he acknowledged the positive contribution made by them to the host country and their role as living bridge between India and the Netherlands.
India and the Netherlands enjoy long-standing friendly and multi-faceted relations with a broad cooperation agenda marked by shared values of democracy, the rule of law, and growing convergences on global and regional issues. The state visit of the President, which took place as both India and the Netherlands celebrated the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, reflected and reiterated the commitment to deepen further the relationship for the mutual benefit of both peoples.
