New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte co-chaired a virtual summit between the two countries on Friday.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the two Prime Ministers recalled their previous meetings in 2015, 2017 and 2018 as well as the successful visit of the King and the Queen of the Netherlands to India in 2019. They also welcomed the steadfast development of bilateral relations that are underpinned by the shared values of democracy, rule of law, pluralism, equality, freedom of speech and respect for human rights and the historic bonds of friendship between the two countries.
They held an in-depth exchange of views on further deepening the bilateral relationship in wide-ranging areas of cooperation including trade and economy, water management and agriculture sector, smart cities and urban mobility, science & technology cooperation, public health & health care and space.
In the context of new geopolitical and geoeconomic realities, they also shared views on regional and global issues of mutual interest including, post-Covid economic recovery, climate change and the Indo-Pacific. They reiterated their strong commitment to a rules-based multilateral order for ensuring international peace, stability and prosperity.
Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic
The two leaders commended the selfless contribution of healthcare workers and other frontline staff across the globe in the fight against the pandemic. Both leaders reiterated their commitment to ensuring equitable and affordable access to Covid-19 vaccines to all countries and agreed to cooperate in this regard.
The Netherlands acknowledged that India's production capacity of Covid-19 vaccines is crucial for the success of global efforts in tackling the pandemic and appreciated India's supply of the vaccines to more than 80 countries through its 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative as well as the COVAX facility. The Netherlands is very grateful for the air-bubble agreement between our two countries, facilitating the repatriation of many Dutch and EU citizens back to Europe, and Indian citizens back to India.
Trade, Commerce and Investments
The two leaders noted the success of the Digital Trade Mission between India and the Netherlands that took place virtually from February 8-12. They welcomed the three specific domains of the trade mission: water management (water safety and security), food chains (solutions in food waste, horticulture, dairy and aquaculture) and sustainable energy (solar energy, hydrogen, biofuels and energy transition).
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Both Prime Ministers agreed that ambitious and innovative flagship programmes like Clean India, Digital India, Make in India, Sagarmala, Ayushman Bharat (healthcare) or Startup India have provided immense opportunities for Indo-Dutch collaboration in multiple sectors. The Indian side apprised the Dutch side about the recently launched Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes and invited increased investments by Dutch companies in areas of medical devices, telecom and networking equipment, solar PV cells, food and textile products.
Both leaders were satisfied that despite Covid-19 related constraints, investment flows between the two countries continued to rise, making the Netherlands the 3rd largest FDI investor in India and India the fourth largest FDI investor in the Netherlands in the year 2019-20.
They welcomed the joint announcement on setting up a bilateral Fast Track Mechanism for investment facilitation and issue resolution. The Indian side also highlighted the role of the Access India Initiative (AII) in facilitating investments from Dutch Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)/ family-owned enterprises (FoEs) by providing necessary market entry support, including investor facilitation and hand-holding services, which are critical for a successful entry into the Indian market.
They also acknowledged the progress made by the StartUpLink initiative (DPIIT, Invest India, Startup India and the Netherlands Embassy) and the intention to continue the successful collaboration in various sectors, including med-tech, agri-tech and cybersecurity as priority sectors.
Towards a Strategic Partnership on Water
The two leaders noted that Indo-Dutch partnerships in the field of water are strong, diverse, mutually beneficial and cover areas like tackling river water pollution, including river Ganga, delta management, promoting water management, water quality issues and wastewater recycling, decision support systems and introduction of new water technologies. Both sides highlighted the strong synergies as far as the water-related challenges of India and the expertise and experience of the Netherlands are concerned and agreed to launch a ‘Strategic Partnership on Water'. The two leaders noted the progress made by the Joint Working Group on Water and agreed to elevate it to the Ministerial level.
The two Prime Ministers reviewed the ongoing projects in the water sector, including the ‘Dutch India Water Alliance for Leadership Initiative (DIWALI)’ platform for designing solutions to water challenges supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the ‘Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse (LOTUS-HR)’ collaboration funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and NWO and the Indo-Dutch R&D projects under Namami-Gange Programme. Both leaders also noted about the upcoming joint Indo-Dutch interventions as R&D projects on ‘Water as Leverage’ in selected towns in Ganga Basin and another pilot project on ‘Pollution and effective waste management of textile industrial cluster in Panipat, Haryana’ under collaborative approval. They also noted the joint DST-NWO support to the consortium ‘Water4Change’ for designing integrated urban water systems formed during the 2019 Technology Summit in which the Netherlands was a partner country.
Innovation, technology and governance are key aspects of Indo-Dutch water cooperation. The two leaders agreed to further intensify and broaden the cooperation in new areas, including water budgeting, cost-effective decentralised treatment technologies, converting wastewater to energy, application of AI in decision making, non-point pollution source assessment and abatement, mapping of ecosystem services, reclaiming river space, basin protection against disasters, river hazard management, the introduction of new water technologies and capacity building through training programmes in cooperation with TU-Delft & IHE-Delft.
Agriculture
India is embarking on an ambitious agenda to develop its agricultural sector as the engine of growth in the rural area, and to double the farmer's income. The two leaders noted with satisfaction the ongoing Indo-Dutch collaboration in the field of agriculture and recognized the opportunities for public/private cooperation in diverse sectors as horticulture, dairy, aquaculture and poultry. The Netherlands underlined the importance of access to the market of various technologies that increase efficiency and adherence to international standards. The two leaders reiterated commitment to complete the establishment of all Centres of Excellence (CoEs) sanctioned under the Indo-Dutch Joint Action Plan on Agriculture. They also agreed to demonstrate ambition and explore setting up 25 CoEs by 2025 in Agri related sectors.
Both leaders welcomed the upcoming Joint Agricultural Working Group in which both countries would discuss further deepening of the cooperation in agriculture in their joint effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, with specific attention on improving opportunities for joint production and processing of nutritious and healthy food, on supporting biodiversity, on raising farmers income and inclusiveness. An extension of the Joint Action Plan under the MoU on cooperation in the field of agriculture is foreseen. They expressed appreciation for several initiatives taken recently like the production of tempeh in Bangalore as an alternative source of protein and the development of the Biomass Initiative for the conversion from paddy straw to energy and fertilizers, supporting both climate mitigation and adaptation and adding value to waste for the benefit of farmers. The two leaders look forward to India’s participation at the International Horticultural Expo Floriade in Almere in 2022.
Smart cities and urban mobility
The two leaders welcomed the extension of MoU to promote technical cooperation in the fields of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management. Under the MOU, India seeks to explore cooperation with the Netherlands in urban development, utilising its strength in integrated urban planning, including the provision of adequate public spaces, pedestrianisation, cycling infrastructure and preservation of water bodies etc.
The Netherlands is uniquely placed as a preferred partner in India’s development in key sectors such as smart cities, mobility and sustainable urban development. It was agreed to explore to exchange knowledge in the field of cycling within this context and support the development of cycling infrastructure in smart cities in India. India also invited the Netherlands to consider the adoption of smart cities in India as well as to explore financial support for green projects in smart cities.
Science and Technology
The two leaders welcomed the ongoing cooperation in the field of science, technology and innovation, focusing on coherence in strategic priorities, launching public-private partnerships and connecting entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems. They reflected on the growing impact of the upcoming Key Enabling Technologies like artificial intelligence, cyber and quantum towards solving societal challenges and contributing to the economy.
The two leaders noted that India and the Netherlands have agreed to launch two new calls on the WAH! Agenda under which both countries have committed to boosting their investments in science technology and innovation under the shared knowledge and Innovation agenda, identifying synergies. The WAH! Agenda focuses on societal challenges in the areas of water, agriculture and health. Both the countries are working towards new modalities for cooperation such as innovation and technology demonstration field labs and expanding the existing bilateral projects through vocational training and doctoral & post-doctoral exchange. With an ambition to leverage advances in Big Data, IoT and AI, the two countries are also working on a new partnership initiative focused on Digital Health, Diagnostics and Devices.
Both sides appreciated the fact that the DST-CII Technology Summit organised by the Department of Science & Technology in October 2019 in New Delhi and the Global Bio India 2021 Virtual Summit organized by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India in which the Netherlands was a partner country have contributed significantly towards bringing together the various stakeholders from the two sides to further strengthen collaboration in the field of science and technology.
Space Cooperation
The two sides acknowledged the ongoing cooperation in space between the two countries and reflected on the contribution that cooperation in this area can make to shared goals on water, agriculture and health through remote sensing applications focussed topics such as air quality and climate-smart & precision agriculture. Noting opportunities for cooperation in areas like nanosatellites, innovative payloads, equipment and scientific experiments they welcomed the finalization of the MoU between the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and Delft University of Technology (TU-Delft) and looked forward to its early signing. Both countries agreed to further the understanding and identify specific programmes which could be jointly taken up for mutual benefit.
Public health and Healthcare
The Prime Ministers expressed their appreciation for the ongoing cooperation in the health sector under the MoU for Cooperation in the Field of Healthcare and Public Health encompassing Anti-M. The two leaders reaffirmed their conviction to further strengthen the multifaceted cooperation between India and the Netherlands for mutual benefit and looked forward to their next interaction at the India-EU Leaders' Meeting in May 2021. Prime Minister Rutte reiterated his invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit the Netherlands.
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