{"id":36084,"date":"2026-09-04T09:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/36084\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:04:09","slug":"anyone-from-antwerp-feels-the-pull-of-mumbai-belgium-pm-de-wever-at-bharat-diamond-bourse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/36084\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Anyone from Antwerp feels the pull of Mumbai\u2019: Belgium PM De Wever at Bharat Diamond Bourse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What could India&#8217;s maximum city, Mumbai, share in common with Antwerp, thousands of miles away in Belgium? Quite a lot, according to Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, from their port-city identities to their role as economic engines of their countries.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai on Friday, September 4, De Wever drew a striking parallel between the two cities, saying people from Antwerp could relate to Mumbai&#8217;s energy and economic pull.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone from Antwerp feels the pull of a city like Mumbai,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>De Wever, who was Antwerp&#8217;s mayor for 12 years before becoming Belgium&#8217;s prime minister, said he saw a similar dynamic between Mumbai and Delhi to the one between Antwerp and Brussels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Antwerp, we have a saying about how our port city, the economic engine of our country, compares with Brussels,\u201d he said, describing Antwerp as \u201cthe city where money is made\u201d and Brussels as \u201cthe city where the money is spent\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>His remarks came a day after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and discussed deepening ties in areas of defence and clean energy.<\/p>\n<p>Strengthening India-Belgium ties<\/p>\n<p>The two countries <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbctv18.com\/world\/india-belgium-aim-to-double-13-billion-trade-in-five-years-expand-defence-ties-19983720.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">signed a defence framework agreement<\/a> and 10 industry-to-industry agreements aimed at expanding military and industrial cooperation, including joint manufacturing of defence equipment in India.<\/p>\n<p>The agreements followed talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken, who reviewed defence and industrial cooperation and agreed to step up training and capacity-building efforts.<\/p>\n<p>The two sides also discussed maritime security in the Indo-Pacific, while India highlighted potential cooperation in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence-enabled unmanned systems, underwater vehicles and complex weapon systems.<\/p>\n<p>Belgium, meanwhile, stressed the importance of securing key maritime trade routes. \u201cFor an open trading nation like Belgium, the security of these sea lanes is vital,\u201d Francken said.<\/p>\n<p>The defence push came ahead of talks between De Wever and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said the partnership had expanded into strategic areas including defence and clean energy.<\/p>\n<p>Modi said India and Belgium were working together on modern defence equipment such as the Zorawar tank, while also highlighting a major green ammonia project being developed in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe scope of our cooperation has expanded beyond traditional sectors to reach strategic areas such as defence and clean energy,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n<p>Bilateral trade between India and Belgium crossed $13 billion in 2025-26.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What could India&#8217;s maximum city, Mumbai, share in common with Antwerp, thousands of miles away in Belgium? Quite&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,76,2541,7812,19412,19136,9204,5284],"class_list":["post-36084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-antwerp","tag-antwerp","tag-bart-de-wever","tag-clean-energy","tag-defence-cooperation","tag-economic-ties","tag-india-belgium-relations","tag-mumbai","tag-narendra-modi"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117211972584293965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36084","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=36084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}