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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the Indian diaspora in The Hague, described India as a rising global power undergoing rapid transformation. He highlighted startup growth, innovation, democracy and international ambitions while stressing stronger India\u2013Netherlands cooperation across trade, technology and defence sectors<\/p>\n
Published Date – 16 May 2026, 04:02 PM <\/p>\n
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The Hague: Terming India a \u201cland of opportunities\u201d, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the country is undergoing an unprecedented transformation and its aspirations are \u201cno longer limited to its borders\u201d. Addressing the Indian community in The Hague, the Prime Minister also said that India is dreaming big and its youth aspires to reach the sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday India is saying we don\u2019t just want transformation, we want the best, we want the fastest. That is why when there are unlimited aspirations in India, the efforts are also becoming limitless,\u201d he said in his over 40-minute speech, amid applause from the audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s India is going through a phase of unprecedented transformation,\u201d the prime minister said. \u201cYou must have seen recently that India hosted the world\u2019s largest and most successful AI Summit. Before that, India also successfully hosted the G20 Summit. And this was not a one-time event. This has now become the character of today\u2019s India.\u201d Modi praised India\u2019s start-up ecosystem, saying India has the third-largest start-up network in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia\u2019s aspirations today are no longer limited to its borders. India wants to host the Olympics, become a global manufacturing hub, emerge as a leader in green energy, and become the growth engine of the world,\u201d the prime minister said.<\/p>\n
Recalling that in 2014, India had only four unicorns, Modi said India has nearly 125 active unicorns now. \u201cToday, our startups are doing remarkable work in AI, defence, and the space sector. This culture of research and innovation is becoming even more expansive,\u201d he added. He said that India\u2019s aspiration-driven journey is also strengthening its democracy, as he mentioned the recently held assembly elections in multiple states.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry witnessed nearly 80-90 per cent voter turnout. Women\u2019s participation also increased significantly, and this trend is visible across every state. Today, voters in India are enthusiastic. We feel proud that voting records are being broken every year,\u201d he said. Modi also took a jibe at the opposition parties, asking the audience if the popular snack Jhalmuri has reached The Hague as well.<\/p>\n
Underlining that the Netherlands is known for tulips, Modi added that India is known for the lotus. \u201cBoth the tulip and the lotus teach us that whether the roots are in water or in the earth, one gains both beauty and strength,\u201d he said. Modi said India and the Netherlands can coordinate in the international arena and work on securing global projects.<\/p>\n
Modi also said that many cultures have vanished over time. But India\u2019s diverse culture still beats in the hearts of its people. \u201cGenerations have changed, countries have changed, environments have changed\u2026 but the family values have not changed,\u201d the PM said.<\/p>\n
Referring to the COVID pandemic and global conflicts, Modi said that this decade is becoming a decade of challenges for the world. \u201cIf these situations are not changed rapidly, the achievements of the past many decades will be washed away,\u201d he warned. Modi arrived in the Netherlands on Friday on the second leg of his five-nation tour to further deepen bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade, technology, defence and renewable energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the Indian diaspora in The Hague, described India as a rising global power…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10285,2264,409,9258,9614,6,3558,42,10286],"class_list":{"0":"post-12172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-netherlands","8":"tag-ai-summit","9":"tag-diaspora","10":"tag-g20","11":"tag-india-netherlands-relations","12":"tag-narendra-modi","13":"tag-netherlands","14":"tag-startups","15":"tag-the-hague","16":"tag-unicorns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}