"We have a lot to offer," Netherlands envoy to India

Gerards, who was here to attend the Gujarat SemiConnect Conference 2025 at Mahatma Mandir, said that several Dutch companies have hired Indians. For instance, NXP has over 4,000 Indians working under it.

"Well, the Netherlands is a global hub. When you talk about semiconductors, we have in Windhof- about 300 different companies in the semiconductor industry together with research institutes and technical universities as well. So I think we have a lot to offer. We're working now on an MoU together with the Union government to make sure that we actually have more research and innovation projects together, that we can work together on training, on skills development, on talent development as well. And also on many other different issues we are in the we're working on it right now. We're concluding it very soon," she told ANI.

She also said that NXP is planning to double their investment in India.

"Well, there are companies investing on a daily basis. You have NXP here. This is one of the big semicom companies that's based in the Netherlands. They have already quite a footprint in your country. About 4,000 people are working in NXP. They're going to double their investment, I understood. So there's a lot happening already in this time and age, and I think such an MoU, it will help as well," she said.

Gerards said that a delegation from the Netherlands is currently on a scoping mission to carve out a suitable MoU.

"I'm sure there are, but what we're doing right now with this delegation that we're bringing here to your summit is they are on a kind of a scoping mission. So we have people in our delegation that come from the different research institutes. We also have companies with us. We have people from our government as well, and what we're doing right now is a scoping mission also to see what's very important to put in this MOU and make sure that we encourage this cooperation between our two countries," she said.

Gerards further said that India and the Netherlands have a "very strong bilateral relationship."

"We have a very strong bilateral relationship. We go back a long way. We were one of the first countries who recognised the independence of India. We have a lot of trade and investment," she said.

Gerards told ANI that the Netherlands is 4th largest foreign investor in India, and 300 different Dutch companies are active here.

"We are the 4th investor in your country. About 300 different Dutch companies are very active. Also the other way around, we have quite some Indian companies who are also investing in the Netherlands. What we're working on right now is a strategic partnership to see how we can do more on trade and investment. How we can do more on security, for example, but also do more on innovation and research, and then we have a wide range of different sectors where we work together like on water management, health, agriculture, very important on energy, ports and logistics and climate, and in all these different sectors, innovation and high tech research, it's all key. And this is, I think, the overview, and it's a very strong relationship," she said.

However, Gerards still feels that there is lot more to do. She said that they will do more work in the green energy sector.

"I think there's a lot of room to do more. Green energy, green hydrogen is very high on our agenda as well. We're also working together with the union government, but also here in Gujarat. We have quite some companies who are working in your ports, Port of Rotterdam, which is the gateway to Europe, the biggest port of our continent, is also very keen and very interested to see how we can do more in this area of green energy and green hydrogen as well," she said.

When asked what she thought about the EU delegation that had recently arrived in India with EU President Ursula Von der Leyen, she said that free trade benefits both and that Europe needed trusted partners now, in such tumultuous times.

"Well, it always benefits both parts when you can have more free trade between two countries and they are negotiating as we speak. We could see that the commission was here with 22 different commissioners. We all listened to the press conference. They said they wanted to finish it before the end of the year. I think it will be important. We need trusted partners now, especially in these geopolitical, very difficult times. So let's see, hopefully we have it before the end of the year," she said.

Earlier, Gerards also paid a courtesy visit to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar and emphasised the Netherlands' expertise in semiconductor-related technologies and expressed keen interest in collaborating with Gujarat for future partnerships.(ANI)