Belgian PM’s India visit to focus on diamonds, defence, maritime ties | Economy & Policy News

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s three-day visit to India, starting Wednesday, will focus on exploring ways to deepen diamond trade and strengthen cooperation in clean energy, maritime and defence ties. During the visit, the two sides would explore ways to leverage the India-European Union free trade agreement.

 

Belgium’s Defence and Foreign Trade Minister Theo Francken and a delegation of business leaders are accompanying Bart De Wever on the first visit by a Belgian PM to India in two decades.

 

The visit would also seek to build on the Economic Mission led by Princess Astrid of Belgium in March 2025 and the inaugural India-Belgium Strategic Dialogue in July 2026. The Economic Mission to India brought together 338 participants from companies, chambers of commerce, academia and public institutions and resulted in 38 agreements.

  

Officials said the visit will provide an opportunity to translate the recent momentum in bilateral relations into concrete outcomes and take the relationship from established economic cooperation towards a broader strategic partnership.

 

Discussions will focus on trade and investment, defence and security, technology and innovation, connectivity, ports and maritime cooperation, and reinforce Belgium’s important role in strengthening India-European Union relations, officials said.

 

The Belgian PM will visit Mumbai on Friday, where his itinerary includes a visit to the Bharat Diamond Bourse. India-Belgium bilateral trade reached $13.01 billion in 2025-26, up from $8.8 billion in 2024-25.

 

Diamond trade, with Antwerp as a major global diamond hub, remains a significant component of India-Belgium bilateral commerce, and the two sides are exploring opportunities for further cooperation in the sector.

 

Belgium is also an important source of investment in India, with foreign direct investment inflows from Belgium amounting to nearly $4.2 billion between April 2000 and December 2025.

 

In July 2026, India and Belgium established a new ministerial-level strategic dialogue. Its inaugural edition was held in Brussels on July 15.

 

As part of bilateral science, technology and innovation cooperation, one of the world’s largest liquid mirror telescopes was inaugurated at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, or ARIES, Nainital, built with the involvement of Belgian space company Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems, or AMOS, in March 2023. Belgian company John Cockerill is building one of the largest electrolyser production facilities in the world in Kakinada, with an expected capacity of 2 GW.

 

Belgium, a major European maritime and logistics hub, provides Indian companies opportunities for cooperation in ports, shipping and supply chains, and also trains Indian port officials. Defence cooperation is also on the anvil, with Belgium appointing a Defence Attaché in New Delhi.

 

In the education sector, Indian and Belgian universities, including institutions such as KU Leuven, Ghent University, University of Antwerp, Hasselt University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, have established academic partnerships with Indian institutions. There are 1,311 Indian students in Belgium.

 

Apart from his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, the Belgian PM will address the Confederation of Indian Industry, focusing on the prospects of the India-EU trade deal.