India, Netherlands hold virtual summit on Friday
New Delhi, April 10, 2021
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Netherlands counterpart Mark Rutte held a virtual summit on Friday during which the two sides had a detailed review of the entire spectrum of bilateral engagements.
An official press release said the two sides exchanged views on further expanding and diversifying the relationship in trade and economy, water management, agriculture sector, smart cities, science & technology, healthcare and space.
It was the first high level summit attended by Rutte after the general elections held in the Netherlands in March 2021.
Prime Minister Modi congratulated Rutte on his election victory and on becoming the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for the fourth consecutive term.
India and the Netherlands have a strong and steady relationship, nurtured by the shared values of democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights and the historic bonds of friendship between the two countries, the release noted.
According to it, the two Prime Ministers also agreed on instituting a "Strategic Partnership on Water" to further deepen the Indo-Dutch cooperation in the water-related sector, and upgrading the Joint Working Group on Water to the Ministerial level.
The leaders also exchanged views on regional and global challenges such as climate change, counter-terrorism and the Covid-19 pandemic and agreed to leverage the emerging convergences in new areas like Indo-Pacific, Resilient Supply Chains and Global Digital Governance.
Modi thanked the Netherlands for their support to International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). He also welcomed the Netherlands’ Indo-Pacific Policy and its desire to collaborate during India’s G20 Presidency in 2023.
The two leaders reiterated their commitment to a rules-based multilateral order for ensuring international peace, stability and prosperity and looked forward to a successful India-EU Leaders’ Meeting in Porto, Portugal in May 2021.
NNN
