Netherlands PM Mark Rutte meets Karnataka Deputy CM in Bengaluru 

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 11 (ANI): Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday arrived in Bengaluru and met Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar at Vidhana Soudha.

Mark Rutte, who arrived in India on Friday to attend the G20 summit, is also holding an informal meeting with ministers of the Karnataka government.  

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with Netherlands counterpart Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi. He also attended the G20 Summit hosted under India’s Presidency from September 9-10. 

During the meeting, the two leaders discussed ways to enhance their bilateral partnership. They further discussed ways to deepen cooperation in trade and investment, defence and security, clean energy and green hydrogen, and others.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in an official statement said, “The two leaders discussed ways to deepen their bilateral partnership, including cooperation in trade and investment, defence and security, clean energy and green hydrogen, semiconductors, cyber and digital technology, among others.”

Rutte also congratulated PM Modi on the success of the G20 Summit and India’s G20 Presidency. He also congratulated India on the success of the Chandrayaan mission and conveyed his best wishes for the Aditya mission to the Moon, according to MEA. The discussions between PM Modi and Mark Rutte covered regional and global issues of mutual interest.

On Sunday, PM Modi said that the scope of cooperation for businesses with the Netherlands is immense.

Taking to his official social media platform ‘X’, PM Modi stated, “Excellent meeting with @MinPres Mark Rutte. We talked about ways to enhance friendship between our nations. The scope of cooperation for our businesses is immense. We also look forward to strong ties in clean energy, semiconductors, digital technology and more.”

Meanwhile, Mark Rutte thanked PM Modi for his leadership during the G20 Summit. In a post shared on X, Rutte stated, “Many thanks to Prime Minister @narendramodi for his leadership during this important G20 Summit. Today we also met to discuss the strong relations between India and the Netherlands, and our shared wish to further broaden and deepen our ties.”

Rutte stated that a major topic of discussion under India’s G20 Presidency was digitalisation and the growing role of artificial intelligence. He also laid a wreath at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat. 

In a post shared on X, Rutte stated, “Looking back on a successful #G20India. A major topic under discussion today was digitalisation, and especially the growing role of artificial intelligence. It’s crucial that we join together at international level to adopt rules on this, so that this technology can be used safely and inclusively in our societies. A working session that I took part in was devoted to ensuring that this process runs smoothly. This morning I also had the honour to lay a wreath at Rajghat, the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi, together with all attending leaders.”

On Friday, Netherlands PM Mark Rutte arrived in India to attend the G20 summit. He was received by Union Minister of State, General VK Singh (Retd.) at the airport. A group of dancers also presented a classical dance to welcome the Dutch PM.