"Simple, easy…," Netherlands PM fascinated by India’s UPI

Shivakumar, in a post on X, said, "Held a round table conference with the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte along with a delegation of Dutch investors at the Vidhana Souda today. We spoke about exploring opportunities for investment in Karnataka towards promoting a mutually enriching partnership with Karnataka."

Bengaluru (Karnataka):Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday visited Church Street in Bengaluru and was impressed with India’s UPI method and called it "simple and easy". "It looks very simple and easy. It was fascinating to go through experience once," the Netherlands PM said.

Notably, the Indian government provided hands-on experience to G20 foreign delegates with UPI wallet technology. Responding to a question on whether he was happy with the paragraphs on Ukraine in the New Delhi G20 Leaders' Summit Declaration, the Netherlands PM said, "I think it was good that India was able to broker a declaration by the 20, by all the members."

Talking about the declaration, Rutte said that it was a "compromise" and that will be always the case as all came together. "It was a compromise clearly. That is always the case when you come together as multilateral teams like the G20...I was happy with the fact that there were some key elements in the declaration which were very important and obviously, if I would have written it myself, it would have been different..." he added.

Earlier today, Rutte met Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar at Vidhana Soudha. Mark Rutte, who arrived in India on Friday to attend the G20 summit, is also holding an informal meeting with ministers of the Karnataka government.

After their meeting, Shivakumar, in a post on X, said, "Held a round table conference with the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte along with a delegation of Dutch investors at the Vidhana Souda today. We spoke about exploring opportunities for investment in Karnataka towards promoting a mutually enriching partnership with Karnataka."

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with Netherlands counterpart Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi. He also attended the G20 Summit hosted under India's Presidency from September 9-10.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in an official statement said, "The two leaders discussed ways to deepen their bilateral partnership, including cooperation in trade and investment, defence and security, clean energy and green hydrogen, semiconductors, cyber and digital technology, among others."

Rutte also congratulated PM Modi on the success of the G20 Summit and India's G20 Presidency. He also congratulated India on the success of the Chandrayaan mission and conveyed his best wishes for the Aditya mission to the Moon, according to MEA. The discussions between PM Modi and Mark Rutte covered regional and global issues of mutual interest. (ANI)