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How do you see the political and economic ties between India and the Netherlands in the context of what’s happening in the rest of the world?n Ties have always been strong, for example in field of water and agriculture, but also the large companies of the Netherlands that have always been active here in India, like Philips. The recent geopolitical developments give an extra impetus to the importance of our ties. That’s what my visit was also about to see how in specific areas we can do more. We now have a letter of intent in the field of security and defence where we’re looking at more intensive cooperation. We also signed an MoU in the field of semiconductors and modern technologies. We are very like minded countries, we are democracies, we are countries that believe in the international rule of law in free trade and those countries need to stick together.
How do you see the India EU FTA strengthening this relationship with the Netherlands and India?n It’s not easy to have a FTA with the EU because you have 27 completely different countries with different economies and different interests. It is in all of our interest to reach an agreement with India on an FTA soon for same reasons I mentioned earlier. We believe in same values, same norms. We are all democracies and we have a lot to offer to each other.Do you see the Netherlands emerging as a major destination for Indian students?n Already there are many Indian students in the Netherlands, and not only students, but also technical students that after their studies found work, in one of our high tech companies like ASML. I heard that there were around 10 cricket clubs now around Eindhoven. That’s testimony to the great relationship that we already have in that field. We also have a very large Indian diaspora in the Netherlands . We are a society where Indians feel at home, where they thrive and contribute to our economy and society.Which are the sectors where cooperation can begin in the near future?n In the field of semiconductors, I visited one of the Dutch companies here, which is called NXP, which is a spin off of Philips and they do design and production of high end mobility chips. They already design most of its high end chips here in India. This company is providing over 3,000 jobs here in India working on the high end of the semiconductor industry. We want to invest more in R&D together, we want to put more effort in talent development. There’s a big wish on the Indian side to also have more in the production facilities of semiconductors. There’s a broader basis that we already can build on with regards to semiconductors.How do you see the situation in Europe in the context of the Ukraine war? Do you expect the war to end soon and what are the implications for the region?n We all want this war to end soon. It’s been going on for almost four years at an incredible cost for Ukraine, but also for Russia. We all hope that we will soon reach a ceasefire and hopefully a durable peace agreement. That’s why Europe is actively engaging in the negotiations that are now ongoing, led by the US and where we see that Ukraine is willing to come to the table and reach a deal and an agreement, and we hope that Moscow will do so too.
