{"id":12434,"date":"2026-05-16T16:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/12434\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T16:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:59:07","slug":"pm-modi-meets-dutch-king-addresses-diaspora-during-netherlands-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/12434\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Modi meets Dutch King, addresses diaspora during Netherlands visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (May 16) met King Willem-Alexander and Queen M\u00e1xima in The Hague as part of his visit to the Netherlands, the second leg of his five-nation tour aimed at deepening India\u2019s ties with European partners in areas such as trade, technology, defence and renewable energy.<\/p>\n

PM Modi, who arrived in the Netherlands on Friday after a brief stopover in the UAE, is also scheduled to hold talks with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten. His visit from May 15 to 17 marks his second trip to the country after 2017 and comes at what officials described as an “important juncture” in India-Netherlands relations.<\/p>\n

\nAccording to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the visit carries a “rich and substantive agenda” focused on expanding cooperation in strategic sectors including semiconductors, clean energy, defence, innovation, maritime security and education. India and the Netherlands have significantly broadened their partnership in recent years beyond traditional areas such as trade, agriculture, water and health.
The Netherlands is among India\u2019s largest trading partners in Europe, with bilateral trade valued at $27.8 billion in 2024-25. It is also India\u2019s fourth-largest investor, with cumulative foreign direct investment amounting to $55.6 billion, officials said.<\/p>\n

Addressing members of the Indian diaspora in The Hague, PM Modi described India as a \u201cland of opportunities\u201d undergoing an \u201cunprecedented transformation\u201d, saying the country\u2019s aspirations were \u201cno longer limited to its borders\u201d.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Donald Trump says China and Taiwan should \u2018cool down,\u2019 warns the island against declaring independence<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cToday India is saying we don\u2019t just want transformation, we want the best, we want the fastest,\u201d he said in his over 40-minute address. He highlighted India\u2019s startup ecosystem, noting that the country now has nearly 125 active unicorns and is the world\u2019s third-largest startup hub.<\/p>\n

The prime minister said India aims to emerge as a global manufacturing hub, a leader in green energy and \u201cgrowth engine of the world\u201d, while also expressing ambitions to host the Olympics. Referring to India\u2019s technological and scientific progress, Modi cited the country\u2019s successful G20 presidency, its AI summit and the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission.<\/p>\n

PM Modi also talked about the growing India-Netherlands cooperation in areas such as green hydrogen, supply chains and clean energy, saying the two countries were working together to create a \u201ctrusted, transparent and future-ready supply chain\u201d.<\/p>\n

Drawing a cultural comparison, the PM said the Netherlands is known for tulips while 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.<\/p>\n

The prime minister also highlighted sports as a strong link between the two nations, particularly cricket and hockey. Referring to the Netherlands\u2019 performance in the recent T20 World Cup, PM Modi praised Indian-origin Dutch cricketers, including Teja Nidamanuru, Vikramjit Singh and Aryan Dutt.<\/p>\n

He also acknowledged the contribution of Dutch coaches to Indian hockey, specifically mentioning Sjoerd Marijne, who guided the Indian women\u2019s hockey team to a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n

During his speech, PM Modi said the Indian diaspora could act as a \u201ctrusted bridge\u201d in expanding India-Europe economic ties, especially as the India-EU Free Trade Agreement gains momentum.<\/p>\n

Also Read: India, UAE announce $5 billion investments, oil reserve and AI deals during Modi visit<\/a><\/p>\n

The Netherlands is home to more than 90,000 NRIs and persons of Indian origin, along with over 200,000 members of the Suriname-Hindustani community. Around 3,500 Indian students are currently studying at Dutch universities.<\/p>\n

Following the Netherlands leg of his tour, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Sweden, Norway and Italy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)<\/p>\n

First Published:\u00a0May 16, 2026 10:13 PM IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (May 16) met King Willem-Alexander and Queen M\u00e1xima in The Hague as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10513,10514,10516,10517,9258,9252,10515,9250,6],"class_list":["post-12434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-netherlands","tag-india-dutch-trade","tag-india-eu-ties","tag-india-green-energy-partnership","tag-india-netherlands-defence","tag-india-netherlands-relations","tag-modi-europe-tour","tag-modi-hague-speech","tag-narendra-modi-netherlands-visit","tag-netherlands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12434","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=12434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}