Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, will travel to India for an official visit from September 2 to 4, meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on September 3. The two leaders are slated to discuss the full range of bilateral relations and regional and global issues of mutual interest. This trip marks De Wever’s first visit to India since taking office in February of the previous year.
During the New Delhi leg, De Wever will deliver a keynote address at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) business event, focusing on the India‑EU Free Trade Agreement. He will be accompanied by Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken as part of the delegation.
After concluding engagements in the capital, the prime minister will proceed to Mumbai to meet stakeholders from the diamond, ports and logistics sectors. The Ministry of External Affairs said the visit aims to deepen cooperation in trade and investment, defence and security, technology, renewable energy, connectivity and people‑to‑people ties, while also strengthening broader India‑EU and India‑Europe engagement.
The trip follows a July 15 strategic dialogue in Brussels where External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Belgian counterpart Maxime Prevot reviewed cooperation across political, economic, investment, clean‑energy, defence, mobility and pharmaceutical domains, and discussed global developments including West Asia. Belgium, one of the first European nations to recognize independent India in 1947, continues to support India’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
