The Netherlands and India have historical relations going back to the early 15th century. At present, the Netherlands is the fifth largest investor of FDI into India, accounting for 6 per cent of total inflows into India in the last 15 years. In 2015, Prime Minister Rutte led a delegation of over 80 companies and 20 CEOs of large Dutch corporations. There is a road map for cooperation in infrastructure, water management, agriculture, Smart Cities and renewable energy. Evidently it is a two-way street of cooperation and business—over 174 Indian companies currently have a presence in the Netherlands. This European nation is home to about 220,000 Indian and Surinami Hindustani diaspora, one that helps strengthen linkages between the two nations. Overall, relations between India and The Netherlands seem to be on a high. In this promising scenario, to get more of an essence on this ever-expanding and significant bilateral relations, India Empire’s Editor Sayantan Chakravarty caught up with H.E. Alphonsus Stoelinga, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to India.

Bilateral relations between The Netherlands and India have continued to develop and gain momentum in the past years. Both Governments attach great importance to bilateral economic relationship. Please let us know about the highlights of this engagement and your views…

The Indo-Dutch relations go back more than 400 years, when India and the Netherlands were at both ends of the “Spice Route”, trading spices and textiles. This relationship has evolved ever since and one can say that today the Indian and Dutch governments attach great importance to this bilateral economic relationship, given the many Indian business delegations visiting the Netherlands and Dutch missions that are visiting India. In 2015 we had the Mayors of the cities of The Hague and Amsterdam coming to India, but one of the highlights of that year was of course the visit of Dutch Prime Minister Rutte with a delegation of more than 80 companies and 20 CEO’s of large Dutch corporations. During that visit, a Road Map has been drawn up for cooperation in infrastructure, water management, agriculture, Smart Cities and renewable energy. The Indo-Dutch relation is nowadays stronger than ever!