Indians in Netherlands celebrate Independence Day

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 15          

Over 600 members of the Indian community and friends of India gathered at ‘India House’ — the ambassador’s residence in Wassenaar, Netherlands, on Wednesday morning to celebrate the country’s 72nd Independence Day. 

This was the largest Independence Day gathering ever in the Netherlands and organised the second time at the ‘India House’ in Wassenaar.  

For the first time, mayors of two leading cities of the Netherlands – Utrecht and Wassenaar namely, Jan van Zanen and Frank Koen, also took part in the celebrations.

The celebrations began with the hoisting of the Indian flag by Ambassador Venu Rajamony, singing of the national anthem and reading out President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the nation.

This was followed by a performance of patriotic songs by the local music group Madras Chorus and kathak and odissi fusion dance performance by Netherlands Marathi Mandal. The celebrations were followed by delicious Indian snacks. 

India and the Netherlands have a long history of friendly bilateral relations going back to more than 400 years encompassing many areas of shared interest.

The Netherlands is one of first three countries that established diplomatic relations with independent India in 1947.

Prime Minster Narendra Modi visited the Netherlands on June 27 last year. During his visit, he met with King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Rutte as well as his senior cabinet colleagues.

He participated in a CEOs Roundtable and interacted with Queen Máxima in her capacity as UNSG’s special advocate for financial inclusion.

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited India in May 2018 along with high-level delegation comprising of four cabinet ministers and mayor of The Hague. He was also accompanied by a trade mission comprising of 131 companies/institutions and nearly 200 trade representatives, which was the largest trade mission to India from the Netherlands.

Both countries have strong economic interests in each other. There are about 200 Indian companies based in the Netherlands and over 200 Dutch companies in India. 

The Netherlands was the third largest investor in India in 2017, after Mauritius and Singapore, with investments worth US$ 3.2 billion in 2017.

The total investment from the Netherlands to India in the period 2000-2017 comes to around USD 23 billion cumulatively. Around USD 9.2 billion has come to India in just last three years.

The Netherlands is also major destination for Indian investments with total investments by Indian companies estimated at USD 12.8 billion as on 31 March 2017.