Last Updated:
India Netherlands Meeting: In the meeting of S Jaishankar and David Van Wiel in New Delhi, India and Netherlands signed six MoUs including defence, cyber, semiconductor, Pakistan was also discussed. According to one information, Netherlands is among the top countries in terms of selling arms to Pakistan and India has expressed concern about it.
New Delhi. Pakistan, which used to thrive on the strength of foreign weapons, has now become restless. Actually, many agreements were agreed between India and Netherlands on Friday, but this special meeting held in New Delhi increased the problems for Pakistan. Netherlands Foreign Minister David van Weel and MEA S Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting on Friday. In this meeting, mutual cooperation between the two sides in different fields including trade, defence, shipping, water, agriculture, health and culture was discussed. Apart from this, both the leaders also talked about multilateral cooperation and global issues. Secretary (West) Sibi George and other officials in the Ministry of External Affairs were also present during the meeting. Netherlands has also assured India in the matter of selling arms to Pakistan. The Foreign Minister of Netherlands said that in connection with the sale of arms to Pakistan, attention is being given to the end use.
There is considerable uneasiness in Delhi over European weapons reaching Pakistan, which has often been accused of supporting terrorism and its unpredictable actions that create instability in the region. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data for 2020-2024 shows that the Netherlands supplied a large share of Pakistan’s arms imports, which mainly included naval platforms and subsystems. David Weil said that India and the Netherlands work together on issues that shape the shared future of the two countries. Both the countries have signed six MoUs in many areas including defence, cyber and semiconductor.
“India and the Netherlands work together on issues that shape our shared future. In my meeting with Minister S Jaishankar, we discussed regional stability, the Indo-Pacific and what kind of cooperation is needed in a rapidly changing world,” he wrote on social media platform X. He said, “With this visit, we are taking the next step. We are signing six new MoU cooperation agreements, which include defence, cyber and semiconductor. This is how India and the Netherlands invest together in innovation and economy.”
The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, “India is reaching a crucial phase in the Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the EU. India values relations with the Netherlands bilaterally and as an important partner of the EU.” The ministry further said, “Many agreements have been agreed between India and the Netherlands.” It was also told that both the countries are coming closer in the field of cooperation in semiconductor.
