Round The World

New Delhi, 31 May 2018

India & Netherlands

DEEPENING THE TIES

By Dr D K Giri

(Prof. International Politics, JMI)

The visit of the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte last week, did not receive the media attention it deserved. The Netherlands is a quiet country, diligently going about its development and governance, and staying away from controversies. If it receives any world attention, it is because of the International Court of Justice located in Hague in Holland, the other name for the Netherlands. However, Holland has been a big supporter of India’s development, especially the social sector and during this visit both countries signed as many as 51 Agreements. Surely, that was worthy of country’s attention.

The lack of adequate media attention to Rutte’s visit is due to its penchant for sensationalism and controversies, rather than developmental issues, however, solid these may be. At any rate, India-Holland relations typify a bilateralism which should be a model for mutuality and solidarity in lieu of terror-mongering between the countries.

Scan the statement of the Netherland’s embassy in Delhi on the eve of the visit of its Prime Minister, “the State visit will further boost the economic and political co-operation between India and the Netherlands while focusing on the existing and the potential partnerships in agriculture, water management, health care, innovation, start-ups among several other sectors.” It was all about development cooperation, of course in mutual interest.

The Dutch PM was paying a return visit following Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the Netherlands, last June. Rutte was in India before, in his previous capacities, but first as the PM. He was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising Deputy PM, Minister of Trade, Agriculture, Infrastructure and Water Management.

Like it happens when a head of a State visits, especially from the west, there are wide-ranging and constructive discussions on a number of regional and international issues. So it happened between Dutch delegation and its Indian counterparts. Both sides vowed to deepen the long-standing relations between two countries spanning over decades.

The two leaders predictably, called for closer co-operation between like-minded countries to tackle the new challenges confronting the world. They underlined the need for generating world economic growth in an inclusive mode, and for a fair and equitable distribution to arrest involuntary migration, social exclusion, unemployment and alienation.

Presumably, at India’s behest both Prime Ministers committed to fight terrorism. New Delhi manages to insert terrorism in bilateral and multilateral forums, as a topic as India is one of the worst-affected countries by cross-border terrorism. During this visit, “the leaders agreed that terrorist and extremist organisations need to be denied space to radicalise, recruit and carry out attacks on innocent people. They condemned the veritable violence caused by Al Qaeda, Daesh/ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammed Hizbul Mujahideen Lashkar-e-Taiba and their affiliates threatening peace and tranquillity in South Asia and Europe.

Arguably, these were routine solidarity statements between the two. The Netherlands is unlikely to make any significant contribution to fighting terrorism on Indian soil. It may extend moral support, but Holland does not seem to have great expertise or stake in engaging terrorists. Flanked by two major countries, Germany and France, both of which are concerned with terrorism, Holland is not, so far, on terrorist radar. So be it.

The 51 Agreements signed, covered a plethora of sectors, mainly education, water, waste management, agriculture, food processing, IT, development of smart cities etc. Holland was following the new strategy by European Union countries to engage directly with Indian market, unlike before, when they had to use Britain as the launch pad for India. Britain is out of the EU. Since the Agreements are many, and cooperation is deep, it may be worth our while to elaborate on some specific sectors.

Agriculture is the main sector for deeper collaboration in, as Holland has better technology and India is heavily dependent on agriculture. The Agreement is meant to intensify the Indo-Dutch collaboration, wherein the Indo-Dutch Centres of Excellence (CoE), flagship joint projects in these sectors were reviewed and planned for early completion, after the successful operationalisation of the CoE in Baramati, Maharashtra.

Dutch companies were invited to explore the possibility of setting up food valleys and invest in cold-chain and food processing facilities by building Indian capacities. Significantly, Holland would extend support for sustainable and climate resilient agriculture to mitigate water shortages, and avoid stubble burning etc.

Under the Indo-Dutch water cooperation, both India and Holland are to collaborate in several projects including waste-to-wealth approach. The solid waste treatment in leather industries in Kanpur and Unnao, and treatment of waste water in Hindon-basin are some of the projects to focus on. Clean Ganga campaign is another mega project which requires world support. Holland agreed to give a hand. The water resource management training provided by water institutes of Holland, namely Deltares, and IHE Delft received accolades from Indian side, and such cooperation is to continue.

Both countries reiterated their commitment to climate change projects in line with the Paris Agreement and under the framework of UNFCCC for benefit of both and the world at large. Securing clean energy should be the priority, they affirmed. This could be done through technology innovation, knowledge sharing, capacity building, sensitisation of consumers, and undertaking projects. India, as the co-ordinator of International Solar Alliance welcomed Holland into the new body. Both Prime Ministers promised to involve institutions and industries in enhancing the production, distribution, and consumption of renewable energy.

Trade and investment prominently figured, mainly in the context of India’s flagship initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Start up India’. Bilateral trade at present is $5.39 billion. Holland is the fifth largest investor in India with a cumulative investment of $23 billion from 2000 to 2017. It also hosts the second biggest Indian diaspora in Europe, up to 2,35,000 of Indians.

With growing India-EU trade, New Delhi and Amsterdam underlined the role Holland could play as ‘India’s Gateway to Europe”. They agreed to set up a reciprocal Fast Track Mechanism to resolve trade issues. Furthermore, the connectivity between the two countries by the sea route to be fast explored. Under this scheme, port-to-port contacts and cooperation in improving port infrastructure and shipping is to be attempted.

In view of increasing multifaceted cooperation between both, people-to-people contact was agreed to be raised through relaxed visa procedure, forging stronger business links, increasing air traffic, (the direct flights between the two countries have increased from one a day in 2015 to five a day) and through exchange of students, offering greater member of scholarship etc. The new project was the signing of a MOU between the Foreign Service Institute of both countries. This will help share the content and structure of the programmes and perhaps align the thinking on promoting the bilateralism.

Other sectors such as security, S&T and health, also figured in the negotiations and agreements were signed. It was a large portfolio for collaboration between the two countries. The visit was useful for both, which underscored development as key to bilateralism. India should welcome and appreciate the Netherlands goodwill for it, and it should deepen it for its national interest and as an exemplar for international engagement.---INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)