The largest Dutch Trade Mission to India

‘In my opinion this is the culmination of all efforts both India and the Netherlands have undertaken in the past years to tighten the relationship and cooperation’

2 June 2018

Part I

‘In my opinion this is the culmination of all efforts both India and the Netherlands have undertaken in the past years to tighten the relationship and cooperation’, says Lars de Vries, Senior Project Manager India at BOM Foreign Investments. Last week, he was invited to join the largest Dutch Trade Mission to India ever, together with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Mark Rutte. The coming week Lars will take you on this special journey.

At the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Rutte paid an official visit to India, aiming to boost better business partnerships and deepen the economic and political cooperation between both countries. Both prime ministers recalled their previous meetings in Delhi and The Hague in 2015 and 2017 and appreciated the ongoing expansion in the Indo-Dutch economic engagement.

We believe in cooperation as our region has a strong connection with India. With the city of Eindhoven being the hometown of Philips, also present in India for the past 100 years, many Indian IT companies have set-up sound business relations with the front-runners in co-creation.

The Trade Mission consisted of a delegation of 4 ministers, 125 companies and around 200 attendees from the Netherlands. A few examples of companies from Brabant that joined this mission are Litevax, Eindhoven Medical Robotics, NXP, PAL-V, Schouten Europe and MTD. Additionally, many prominent people from the Indo-Dutch network joined this mission, such as the NICCT, Assocham and my acquisition colleagues from Rotterdam Partners, The Hague Business Agency and Amsterdam inbusiness.

Due to the focus, size and presence of 4 ministers, the mission was divided into 5 parallel programs, namely:

  • Life Sciences & Health
  • Hightech, IT & Cyber Security
  • Water, Logistics and Maritime
  • Smart Cities
  • Agrifood & Horticulture

I myself joined the program for Hightech & IT. However throughout the days I also attended sessions on Smart Cities and Smart Mobility. All providing valuable insights, but in the end it is the network present here that is most relevant.

Next week I will continue sharing my experiences with you, this time on the actual content of the mission, and the results of my efforts.

By Lars de Vries