New Delhi: The evolving geopolitical landscape, especially the growing competition between the current superpowers, has led to a need for countries like India and the Netherlands to cooperate in sectors such as agriculture, Silvio Erkens, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature of the Kingdom of the Netherlands said Monday.
Speaking to the media here, Erkens underlined that the changing geopolitical landscape, coupled with climate change and other issues have necessitated closer cooperation between India and his country.
“The changing global geopolitical landscape has led to the diversification of food chains across the Netherlands and India…Climate change and weather-related events and with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has led to higher fertiliser prices, and other input costs such as urea and other goods that our farmers need,” said Erkens.
He added, “The topics we are looking at (with India) include the adaptability of the farming sector to become more resilient. Looking at the innovation front, things like genome testing are now allowed within the EU.”
Erkens is in India for a six-day visit, the first by a Minister from the European country since India and the Netherlands elevated ties to a strategic partnership this May, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit.
Apart from official meetings in New Delhi Monday with his Indian counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Erkens will travel to Mumbai, where a seed cooperation forum will be held Tuesday, before leading a 18-member business delegation to Bengaluru Wednesday. The business delegation includes companies from the horticulture, seeds and agro-industry sectors.
The visit also comes a few months ahead of the signing of the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement. The two sides are expected to ink the agreement in the near future, with the aim to operationalise the FTA by the first half of 2027.
“Primary (agricultural) products indeed will not change substantially with the FTA, but if you look, for example, at the industrial equipment that is needed for agriculture, if you look at the technological know-how and systems, that does provide a better base for cooperation,” said Erkens in response to a question from ThePrint.
The Dutch minister added that “those fields are part of the global challenge and race on innovation. So, I think it gives a much better basis for us to actually interact in this field.”
The FTA largely side steps agricultural exports and imports, as India is not keen on opening its sensitive sectors to foreign companies. Nevertheless, there remain certain exceptions including for fruits that are not as easily available domestically in India.
Erkens underlined that the current “non-tariff measures in place can be managed by closer cooperation” between the two sides. The EU’s agricultural sector also remains one of the most difficult for foreign exporters, due to its high phytosanitary standards.
The Dutch Minister underlined that these non-tariff barriers will eventually be solved through “closer enforcement cooperation” and “trust-building” between the two governments.
Erkens also highlighted that of the 25 Centres of Excellence in the agricultural sector that the Netherlands government aims to build in India, 10 have been completed. Another five are in advanced stages of completion, while another five proposals have been received so far.
The centres of excellence have been an Indo-Dutch initiative since 2012, and have since evolved to include areas such as horticultural products.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)