The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be in Bengaluru on Friday at the head of a 120-member business delegation, the largest-ever from the European nation. He will be accompanied by his cabinet colleagues Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag and Minister for Medical Care and Sports Bruno Bruins, and the mayor of The Hague.
The delegation will focus on business synergies and partnership between the Netherlands and Bengaluru-based companies in life sciences and healthcare, smart cities, high-tech and space.
“Bengaluru is becoming such an important hub in the economy of India,” said Jaap Werner, Consul General, Consulate General of The Netherlands, Bengaluru. “We want to reach out to the government of Karnataka [and] even more than before to the business community in south India and to the academic circles as well.”
ADVERTISEMENT
PM Rutte will meet 10 Indian CEOs at an ‘innovation power-lunch’. There will be a session on ‘Partners in innovation and infrastructure’, which will be addressed by Ms. Kaag and Hans de Boer, president of the Confederation of Netherlands industry and employers, VNO-NCW.
The other sessions include ‘The future of living’, which deals with smart cities, and ‘Designing the future’, on insights about the collaboration between The Hague and Karnataka on cybersecurity and technology. It would be conducted by Pauline Krikke, mayor of The Hague.
ADVERTISEMENT
Prime Minister Rutte will participate in a question and answer session with Indian students organised by Nuffic Neso India, the official representatives of Dutch higher education in the country. He will interact with young leaders of tomorrow and seek to persuade students to explore Holland for higher studies, and research and development.
In the last two years, the Netherlands and Karnataka have signed MoUs on agro-food, horticulture and cybersecurity. A centre of excellence in horticulture that would use Dutch technology is nearing completion.