Princess Astrid and the ministers accompanying her on the economic mission in India met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.
The meeting, initially scheduled for 30 minutes, lasted about an hour and covered numerous strategic topics.
Prime Minister Modi expressed his admiration for the size of the Belgian delegation, comprising 330 people, as conveyed by Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot. Modi interpreted this as a strong sign of Belgium’s significant interest in India.
Discussions, attended by Princess Astrid, Foreign Minister Prévot, Defence Minister Theo Francken and Flemish Minister-President Matthias Diependaele, focused on several key issues. These included diamond trade, space developments, and facilitating the mobility of highly skilled Indian workers to Belgium.
Green energy was also a major topic, which Maxime Prévot described as a “crucial development axis for our respective policies”. The delegation highlighted Belgium’s role in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
The conversation also delved into Defence-related matters. According to Theo Francken, both nations aim to establish two task forces (one in India, the other in Belgium) to explore a structural cooperation agreement between their armed forces. The minister hopes for clarity on this by year’s end.
Francken also intends to send a military attaché to the Belgian embassy to smooth out collaboration opportunities.
The cooperation with India is primarily economic, focusing heavily on B2B interactions. However, Maxime Prévot emphasised the G2G (government to government) component of the mission, highlighting its diplomatic significance in the world’s largest democracy. Besides the Prime Minister, four other Indian ministers met with the Belgian delegation, underscoring the high regard in which the visit and mission were held.
