A high-powered economic delegation from Belgium, led by Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium, visited India from March 1 to 8, 2025. This is the second such visit by the princess, who aimed to strengthen economic ties between the two nations and explore new pathways for cooperation.
The economic mission consisted of over 325 Belgian delegates, comprising key CEOs, senior leadership from Belgian businesses, academic representatives, and high-ranking officials from the country. The delegation was accompanied by several prominent Belgian ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, and Development Cooperation, Mr. Maxime Prevot; Minister of Defence in charge of Foreign Trade, Mr. Theo Francken; and Minister-President of the Government of Flanders and Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation, and Industry, Foreign affairs, Digitisation, and Facility Management, Mr. Matthias Diependale.
During her visit, Princess Astrid called on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, where they agreed to work closely to discover new pathways for cooperation across emerging and high-impact sectors, strengthening economic resilience, fostering innovation-led growth, and deepening bilateral cooperation to benefit the people of both countries.
The External Affairs Minister, Dr. S Jaishankar, also met with Princess Astrid and her delegation, holding productive discussions on a range of topics, including regular political and official engagement, trade and investment, digital technologies, semiconductors, defence, innovation, clean energy, infrastructure, chemicals, agriculture, food processing, and easier mobility of skilled professionals.
The princess held separate meetings with Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh; Commerce and Industries Minister Shri Piyush Goyal; and Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnav. The visit also included a business event organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB), attended by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Jitin Prasada.
During her visit to Mumbai, Princess Astrid met with the Governor of Maharashtra, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis. The delegation also visited the Agristo-Masa potato processing facility in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, where Agristo plans to expand its operations through an additional investment of INR 750 crores.
Over 35 business and academic collaboration agreements were signed during the visit, covering diverse areas such as Green Technology, Healthcare, Defence, Food Processing, Ports, and Education. The bilateral trade between India and Belgium stood at over USD 15 billion in 2023-24, with Belgium being the fifth-largest trading partner of India in the EU.
The Economic Mission led by Princess Astrid aimed to boost two-way investment and diversification of trade, further strengthening the strong mutual interests between the two nations. This visit marked a significant step towards enhancing economic cooperation between India and Belgium, paving the way for new opportunities and growth in the region.