The Hague: Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Tuesday backed India’s fight against cross border terrorism as he held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on boosting bilateral ties in areas of trade, technology and security.
After a meeting with Jaishankar, Schoof said he was looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands soon.
PM Modi was to travel to Croatia, Norway and the Netherlands from May 13 to 17, but the trip was called off following the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack.
During the talks, Jaishankar thanked Prime Minister Schoof for the Netherlands’ “firm and resolute” stance against terrorism.
On his meeting with the external affairs minister, Schoof said: “First of all, I expressed my support for India’s fight against terrorism in the wake of the horrific attack last month in Pahalgam.”
“It is good for all parties that the violence between India and Pakistan has not escalated further,” he said in a social media post.
The Dutch prime minister said it is important for both the Netherlands and India to count on each other in a “changing world”.
“We also spoke about our Strategic Partnership. This concerns long-term cooperation between the Netherlands and India in areas including trade, innovative technology, agriculture and security,” he said.
“I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to our country soon to discuss this further,” he added.
Jaishankar arrived here on Monday in the first leg of a three-nation tour. He is also travelling to Denmark and Germany.
In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said both sides expressed satisfaction at the growing strategic convergences in the India-Netherlands relationship, and agreed to further strengthen bilateral ties.
It said Jaishankar held a meeting with Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp during which both sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation, and regional and global matters of mutual interest.
“The ministers expressed satisfaction over the progress in diverse sectors including trade and economy, science and technology, water, agriculture and health, education, culture and people-to-people ties,” the MEA said in a statement.
“They also discussed ways of increasing collaboration in new and emerging sectors of digital technology, semiconductors, AI, and green hydrogen,” it said.
Following his meeting with Jaishankar, Veldkamp said the Netherlands sees great opportunities to take its bilateral cooperation with India to the next level and looks forward to establishing a long-term strategic partnership with it.
Jaishankar also held talks with Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans and discussed opportunities to take forward the defence and security cooperation between the two countries to the “next level”.