Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has stated that Belgium will work towards strengthening maritime cooperation with India and announced that a full Belgian delegation from the maritime and port sector would visit India in February next year, with steps to be taken towards undertaking concrete work in this area. He was addressing the India-Belgium high-level discussions on the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement held in Mumbai today. He said the Free Trade Agreement is a symbol of strategic openness, trust and mutual respect and expressed confidence that it would further strengthen the economies of both India and the European Union and help them remain resilient amid global uncertainty.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever asserted that at a time when the world is witnessing increasingly violent conflicts, strengthening trade relations between strong partner countries is the only answer. He stressed that safe and reliable maritime supply chains have become twice as important in such circumstances, and that the India-EU Free Trade Agreement comes at a particularly crucial time. He expressed confidence that the agreement would provide a foundation on which many major initiatives could be built in the future. He also criticised countries that impose unilateral and unfair tariffs on others.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Maharashtra would play a very important role in the journey towards doubling bilateral trade between India and Belgium. He called upon Belgian companies looking towards India following the India-EU Free Trade Agreement to consider Maharashtra as their preferred base for entering the Indian market. He proposed setting up a team to identify a select number of projects between Belgium and Maharashtra and fast-track their implementation. He also invited Belgium to be part of Maharashtra’s journey towards becoming a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030.
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that the economies of Belgium and India are complementary in five key areas – diamonds and jewellery, semiconductors, green hydrogen and ports, defence and advanced manufacturing, and agriculture and food processing. He said that in the face of global uncertainty, there are only two choices – to be swept away by the prevailing instability or to build bridges of trust. He affirmed that India and Belgium have chosen to come together and work towards the latter.
Representatives of various companies, diplomatic officials and others were present on the occasion.
