Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held meeting with Princess Astrid of Belgium and Belgium Defence Minister Theo Francken on Monday as India-Belgium ties receive a major boost.
The exercise is headed up by Princess Astrid who is representing King Philippe, on a major Belgian economic mission to India running from March 2 to March 8. She arrived in the capital city on Sunday and was received by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
During her visit, the princess is to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Jaishankar sounded optimistic about the visit and said on X, “Committed that her visit will have more collaborations for a stronger India-Belgium and India-EU relationship.” 
Led by a 335-person delegation, comprising 180 companies, the delegation is to look for economic cooperation within the areas of renewable energy, defense, life sciences and steel decarbonisation. Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot and other government officials are also on the delegation.
The Belgian Ambassador to India, Didier Vanderhasselt, talked about the strong economy of India and said that there is a need to further upgrade strategic relationship. Scheduled to visit Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi, Princess Astrid’s mission will focus on raising trade ties and tech collaboration betweeen both nations.
Her visit sets out Belgium’s drive to strengthen economic cooperation with India and prepares the way for future investments and partnerships.
