Belgium and India Pledge to Double Bilateral Trade Within Five Years
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Wednesday their intention to double bilateral trade within the next five years, as De Wever concluded a landmark three-hour meeting in New Delhi — the first visit by a Belgian premier to India in two decades. The two leaders outlined an ambitious agenda that extends well beyond their traditional diamond trade into defence manufacturing, semiconductors, green energy and critical minerals.
A Strategic Recalibration After Two Decades
De Wever’s three-day visit (September 2–4) marks a significant shift in India-Belgium relations. No Belgian prime minister has visited India since Guy Verhofstadt in 2006, and the intervening years have transformed India into one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies. The Belgian government sees India as a crucial partner for diversifying economic risk away from China and reducing vulnerability to US policy volatility, as VRT NWS reported.
De Wever, who took office in February 2025, is accompanied by Defence and Foreign Trade Minister Theo Francken, 15 Belgian defence companies, and a high-level business delegation. The current bilateral goods trade stands at approximately 9.4 billion euros, according to Belgian figures, or $13.01 billion per Indian Ministry of External Affairs data for 2025-26. A doubling would bring trade to roughly 18.8 billion euros.
“India is 100 times bigger than Belgium, but precisely because of that, we have much to offer each other,” De Wever said during the joint press statement. “India brings extraordinary scale, excellence and ambition. Belgium can bring technology, specialisation, experience and access to Europe.”
Beyond Diamonds: Defence Takes Centre Stage
The most consequential outcome of the meeting was the signing of 10 defence cooperation agreements covering military training, co-development and manufacturing. According to Outlook India, the agreements include the local assembly of Belgian 70mm rockets supplied by Thales Belgium in partnership with Kalyani Strategic Systems, with the first fully Indian-produced rocket expected in early 2027. A separate 50 million euro ammunition production line supplied by Liege-based New Lachaussee will have an annual capacity of approximately 100 million rounds.
Francken framed the defence push in terms of practical cooperation rather than declarations. “We have built trust. Now we need to convert that into concrete cooperation,” he said. “No non-committal declarations, but joint training, industrial projects and opportunities for our companies.” He noted that India is modernising one of the world’s largest armies, creating enormous opportunities for Belgian firms. “The scale is enormous,” Francken said. “Whoever gets access to those programmes with their technology is quickly talking about large orders and large contracts.”
Belgian companies are already embedded in India’s defence ecosystem. John Cockerill builds cannon turrets for India’s new Zorawar light tank with a factory near Pune, while FN Herstal machine guns are produced in India under licence. The new agreements extend this cooperation into naval mine-countermeasure systems, counter-drone technology and electro-optical sensors.
Green Energy and Semiconductors: New Pillars of Cooperation
Modi highlighted several new areas of cooperation, particularly in clean energy and technology. Belgian engineering firm John Cockerill is developing a 2 GW electrolyser manufacturing facility in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, with Indian partner Greenko — part of one of the world’s largest green ammonia projects that could supply clean fuel to European industry.
“A clean energy future and reliable supply chain are our shared priorities,” Modi said. “The MOU signed today on Renewable Energy will give new momentum to our sustainability cooperation.”
In semiconductors, Modi proposed connecting Belgium’s IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) — a global leader in nanoelectronics research — with India’s rapidly developing semiconductor ecosystem. “In semiconductors, Belgium’s expertise and India’s scale are complementary to each other,” Modi said.
The two countries also agreed to increase cooperation in processing and recycling critical minerals, positioning themselves for the strategic resource competition of the coming decades.
The Diamond Trade: A Relationship Under Pressure
The visit comes at a critical juncture for the diamond trade that has historically anchored India-Belgium relations. Antwerp’s diamond trade has declined from nearly $41 billion in 2022 to about $19.1 billion in 2025, according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, as Open Magazine reported. Western sanctions on Russian diamonds, the rise of lab-grown stones, weak demand in the US and China, and Dubai’s emergence as a rival hub have all contributed to the decline.
India cuts and polishes approximately 90 percent of the world’s diamonds, making it indispensable to Antwerp’s ecosystem. The recently concluded EU-India Free Trade Agreement — finalised in January 2026 after nearly two decades of negotiations — will reduce India’s import duty on natural polished diamonds of European origin from 5.5 percent to 2.5 percent, offering some relief to the beleaguered sector.
De Wever’s itinerary reflects the importance of the diamond trade: on Friday he will visit the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai, inaugurate new offices of diamond certification firm HRD Antwerp, and attend a Port of Antwerp-Bruges event.
A Broader Strategic Context
The visit follows a series of diplomatic milestones. A Belgian Economic Mission led by Princess Astrid in March 2025 brought 338 participants and resulted in 38 memoranda of understanding. The first India-Belgium Ministerial-level Strategic Dialogue was held in Brussels on July 15, 2026, co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot.
Belgium also appointed its first Defence Attaché in New Delhi on September 1, signalling a deeper commitment to defence cooperation. Belgium supports India’s candidature for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council.
De Wever hopes to host Modi in Brussels in December for the signing of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement, which would mark the culmination of nearly two decades of negotiations and provide a new institutional framework for the relationship.
What to Watch For
The success of De Wever’s visit will ultimately be measured by whether the agreements translate into tangible economic outcomes. As The New Indian Express noted, the immediate objective is clear: convert recent diplomatic and commercial momentum into institutionalised strategic cooperation.
Key questions remain. Will the defence agreements evolve into sustained manufacturing partnerships under India’s Make in India initiative? Can the EU-India FTA survive legal scrutiny and institutional approvals to enter into force? And can Belgium’s historic diamond relationship with India adapt to a market increasingly shaped by lab-grown stones and shifting global trade patterns?
Modi framed the partnership within a broader geopolitical context. “Today, the world is passing through a phase of great upheaval,” he said. “In many parts of the world, situations of conflict persist. Food, fuel or supply chains — uncertainty is affecting every sector.” He noted that India and Belgium “both believe in the rule of law, dialogue, and diplomacy.”
For Belgium, the visit represents a calculated bet on India’s rise. As De Wever put it, “We are a little smaller, but we are one of the world’s most open economies to trade.” The coming years will reveal whether that openness translates into the doubling of bilateral trade that both leaders have now committed to achieving.