Belgium PM Bart De Wever Arrives in New Delhi: Why His India Visit Matters for Trade, Defence and the EU
Bart De Wever, Prime Minister of Belgium, has traveled to New Delhi on a three-day official visit to India, which is the first time that he has visited the country since assuming the role of Prime Minister and also the first visit of a Belgian Prime Minister to India in almost two decades. De Wever is visiting India from September 2 to 4, having been invited to do so by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with a delegation of high-ranking officials of the Belgian government, including Defence and Foreign Trade Minister Theo Francken.
This visit takes place against a backdrop of evolving Indo-Belgium relations that have transcended the economic ties traditionally held between the two countries. Even as diamonds and trade play important roles in the ties between the two nations, other areas such as defence, technology, renewable energy, connectivity, and maritime cooperation have come into focus.
Why Bart De Wever’s Visit Is Significant
The significance of the visit of Mr De Wever lies in the fact that it takes place amid a series of heightened diplomatic and economic engagements between India and Belgium. In July 2026, India and Belgium conducted their first-ever Ministerial level India-Belgium Strategic Dialogue in Brussels.
This visit thus gives an opportunity to convert the recent diplomatic gains into cooperation. The timing of the visit is also significant for the overall India-EU relation considering the fact that Belgium continues to be an influential EU member state.
What Will PM Modi and De Wever Discuss?
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Belgium’s Bart De Wever will engage in bilateral discussions in New Delhi on September 3. Apart from the overall India-Belgium relationship, the discussions will touch upon various regional and international developments of interest to both sides.
Trade and investments will undoubtedly be some of the important topics of discussion; however, the talks will go beyond this scope. Issues like defence and security, technology, renewable energy, and connectivity are a few other topics that have been highlighted.
The expanded list of topics indicates the changing nature of the relationship. In recent times, apart from focusing on trade and investments in the country, India and Belgium are beginning to look into cooperation in strategic sectors which can influence their economic and security interests in the future.
Defence Is Emerging as a New Priority
Among the important elements of the trip is the emergence of the defence component. In the Belgian delegation includes Defence Minister Theo Francken and members of Belgium’s defence industry. Also, Belgium has appointed a Defence Attaché in New Delhi, showing the interest of its military apparatus in military cooperation.
The visit of the delegation provides an opportunity for the military firms and organizations of both countries to establish industrial cooperation. The same day of September 3rd, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also met with Theo Francken, reflecting the importance of their cooperation.
For India, cooperation with the defence industries of Europe will help to achieve the goal of industrial cooperation in general. On behalf of Belgium, such cooperation will provide access to one of the biggest defence markets in the world.
Trade Still Forms the Foundation
Although there is an increasing strategic agenda, trade continues to be the central point of India-Belgium ties. The bilateral trade has stood at roughly $13.01 billion for the period 2025-26, as diamonds form a large chunk of the trade owing to Antwerp being one of the major centers for diamonds in the world.
The cumulative foreign direct investment by Belgium in India is estimated to stand at roughly $4.2 billion for the period April 2000 – December 2025.
De Wever will speak at an industry event organized by Confederation of Indian Industry with respect to the India-EU Free Trade Agreement.
Why Belgium Matters to India’s Europe Strategy
While the geographical size of Belgium is not very large, it carries significant economic and institutional weight in Europe, thus lending additional value to the partnership for India.
The diamond industry of Antwerp has turned Belgium into a reliable business partner for India. On the other hand, the ports of Belgium, logistics facilities and its membership of EU provide grounds for cooperation in terms of resilient supply chains and connectivity.
Port cooperation has already been pursued between the two nations, with the signing of a deal that involved the Ministry of Shipping of India and the Antwerp Port Authority to train Indian port authorities.
Thus, partnership with Belgium could help India further develop its strategy of working closely with Europe.
Technology and Renewable Energy Are Gaining Ground
The collaboration is now venturing into emerging technologies and energy. There have been instances where Belgian firms and organizations have participated in science and technology initiatives in India.
For instance, Belgium-based John Cockerill has been planning to establish a plant that will manufacture electrolysers in Kakinada. The capacity of this plant will be 2 GW. This demonstrates the increasing scope of partnership in hydrogen and renewable-energy technologies.
Also, the science and technology collaboration has had a proven history. A liquid mirror telescope in ARIES in Nainital was inaugurated in 2023 in partnership with Belgium-based AMOS space company.
All these initiatives prove that the India-Belgium relationship is slowly transitioning into technology-driven domains.
The Mumbai Leg Will Focus on Business
De Wever, after his visits to New Delhi, is scheduled to head to Mumbai on 4 September. In Mumbai, he will be meeting stakeholders from the diamond, port, and logistics industries.
A visit to the Bharat Diamond Bourse assumes even greater significance since the link between Antwerp and Mumbai has assumed great importance in the global diamond supply chain.
Thus, the visit to Mumbai is a logical extension of the political talks held in Delhi, where the emphasis was purely on business and economic cooperation.
A Broader India-EU Perspective
The significance of De Wever’s visit goes beyond the bilateral level because Belgium has been a key country in the European Union.
The two countries are seeking to build on their India-EU ties, at a time when issues like trade, resilience of supply chains, technology and strategic cooperation are increasingly becoming central to the Europe-India partnership.
Belgium has also endorsed India’s claim to permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
What Comes Next?
While the initial emphasis will be on the result of the meetings between Modi and De Wever, business discussions linked to India-EU FTA, and advancement in defense and industrial collaborations.
The broader goal will be that of institutionalizing the momentum built recently in India-Belgium relations. While trade collaboration continues to be strong, there are new areas of collaboration including defense, renewable energy, technology, and even maritime connectivity and the visit will signify an important move towards developing a strategic partnership.
Conclusion
The significance of the visit by Bart De Wever to New Delhi does not rest merely in it being the first visit by a prime minister of Belgium to India in the last two decades, but also in the context of the relationship taking a new dimension.
While diamonds and trade continue to be important issues, the discussion list now includes defense, technology, renewable energy, ports, logistics, and greater India-EU collaboration. The three-day visit by De Wever gives both the governments the chance to turn the expanded discussion list into stronger collaboration.
India and Belgium attempts to forge a strategic partnership beyond trade and diamonds through De Wever’s visit to India.
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