India and Belgium on Thursday agreed to step up defence and security cooperation, expand collaboration in clean energy and critical minerals and work towards doubling bilateral trade over the next five years as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who is on his first visit to India.<\/p>\n
The two countries will expand military exchanges and training and open up new opportunities for joint development and production of defence equipment. They will also strengthen intelligence-sharing and cooperation between their security agencies to combat crime and terrorism.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefence and security cooperation is a key pillar of our relationship,\u201d Modi said at a joint press meet with De Wever. He said agreements between the two governments and their defence industries would create new opportunities for co-development and co-production.<\/p>\n
On the economic front, India will set up an investment fast-track mechanism for Belgian companies, while the India-Belgium Business Forum will be made a regular platform. The two countries will also step up cooperation among their financial, fintech and regulatory institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese initiatives will help us realise the goal of doubling bilateral trade over the next five years,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n
The partnership is also widening into newer strategic areas. Modi said India and Belgium were working together on modern defence equipment, including the Zorawar tank, while a major green ammonia project was being developed at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.<\/p>\n
The two countries signed an MoU on renewable energy and agreed to cooperate more closely in the processing and recycling of critical minerals, an area gaining importance amid global efforts to secure reliable supply chains.<\/p>\n
Modi said Belgium\u2019s technological expertise and India\u2019s growing scale in semiconductors could complement each other. The two sides will work towards connecting Belgium\u2019s imec research institute with India\u2019s semiconductor ecosystem.<\/p>\n
The partnership will also get a push in areas ranging from startups and maritime training to higher education and research. India and Belgium are expected to sign a Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement soon to facilitate the movement of talent between the two countries.<\/p>\n
The two leaders also discussed the wars in Ukraine and West Asia. Modi said India and Belgium supported an early cessation of hostilities and efforts to find peaceful solutions through dialogue and diplomacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth India and Belgium believe in the rule of law, dialogue and diplomacy,\u201d he said, adding that eliminating terrorism in all its forms remained a shared commitment.<\/p>\n
Modi also highlighted the historical links between the two countries, recalling the courage and sacrifice of thousands of Indian soldiers who fought in Belgium during the First World War.<\/p>\n
He referred to De Wever\u2019s long association with Antwerp\u2019s Indian community and the diamond trade during his tenure as the city\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiamonds have long linked India and Belgium. Today, we are transforming this historic connection into a comprehensive partnership,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India and Belgium on Thursday agreed to step up defence and security cooperation, expand collaboration in clean energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[19212,19213,19214,7,19215,19216,19217,19218,19219,19220,19221],"class_list":["post-35738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-bartdewever","tag-cleanenergypartnership","tag-criticalminerals","tag-belgium","tag-bilateraltrade","tag-defencecooperation","tag-globalsecurity","tag-indiabelgiumrelations","tag-narendramodi","tag-renewableenergyindia","tag-semiconductorecosystem"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117206467355224375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}