The political relationship between India and the Netherlands is excellent. Marten van den Berg, the new Dutch ambassador to India, is mainly concerned with socio-economic cooperation between the Netherlands and India. "We are trying to create optimal conditions for Dutch companies to invest in India."
Ambassador Marten van den Berg (photo: NL Embassy New Delhi)
No stranger
The new Dutch ambassador in New Delhi is certainly no stranger to India. Thirty years ago Marten van den Berg already visited India as a tourist. "I arrived at the old airport in Delhi in the middle of the night," he recalls. "Even then it was bursting with people, but the poverty was a lot greater than today." Over the past few decades, Van den Berg regularly led trade missions to the subcontinent from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "I think I've been to India about 15 times in total," he says.
Big turnaround
Now that Ambassador Van den Berg is living in India, he likes it very much. "The diversity of the country, the fascinating culture, the warmth of the people: India is a great country." His position as ambassador, for the first time in his career, does mean a big change. "We lead a totally different life here than in The Hague. Work and private life are intertwined: in the residence in New Delhi, all kinds of social activities and content workshops are constantly being organized." In addition, the ambassador is on the road a lot. Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bangalore. "And in December I was in Odisha at the Hockey World Cup. Unfortunately, the Netherlands lost the final."
Employees of the Netherlands Embassy in New Delhi (Photo: NL Embassy New Delhi)
Economic cooperation central
Van den Berg is primarily concerned with improving socio-economic cooperation between India and the Netherlands. "That forms the heart of our agenda, because there are no thorny political issues." Central to that socio-economic cooperation are the 17 development goals of the United Nations. These so-called SDGs are not only the guiding principle for Minister Kaag of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, but also the starting point for the Indian government. Van den Berg: "Both countries really have a common agenda, for example to eradicate hunger in the world, to achieve affordable and clean energy, to promote gender equality and to provide clean water. It's not a one-way street."
The Netherlands and India have so much to offer each other.
Business case
What role does the Dutch embassy in New Delhi play in this regard? "We bring companies and knowledge institutions together and together develop business cases that parties can step into," says Van den Berg. "The waste problem in Indiakan be tackled with Dutch knowledge in the field of recycling and extracting energy from waste. With the help of Dutch expertise, we can also contribute to affordable health care for all Indians. And Dutch institutes like TU Delft and Deltares can also be very helpful in preventing floods like last year in Kerala." The question is: how do you ensure that Dutch companies and institutions actually do that? "We try to create optimal conditions for companies to invest in India. We do that by putting them in touch with the right parties, but sometimes also by providing venture capital. When there is a good business case, private investors are quite willing to step in, we find."
Investment climate
The investment climate in India has improved solidly under the current Indian government, according to the Ease of Doing Business Index of the World Bank. Van den Berg does have a comment about this list. "The World Bank only measures in New Delhi and Mumbai. The differences within India are large." Moreover, it remains to be seen whether the current government's reform policy will be continued in the coming years: in a few months India will go to the polls. "The opposition is doing better than expected last year, but it looks like ruling party BJP will still win. But you never know, anything can happen in the last months before the elections. It will be exciting."
Annual visit
Van den Berg does not think that any change of power in New Delhi will have much impact on the cooperation between the Netherlands and India. "The relationship between the Netherlands and India has been excellent for years. Prime Minister Rutte was in India in 2015 and 2018 and Modi visited the Netherlands in 2017. They have agreed to meet annually. I think it would be wise to stick to that: The Netherlands and India have so much to offer each other."