“We need to work together,” says Belgian Defence Minister

Belgium Defence Minister, Theo Francken has said that today, the world needs more collaboration than ever.

Francken, while talking to ANI on Tuesday, said that Belgium will will put the military attache at Embassy of Belgium as soon as possible.

“We talked about collaboration. I think we need to work together even more. I will put the military attache at Embassy of Belgium as soon as possible and we are going to make a corporation agreement between Belgium and India. So it was a really good meeting. Yes, we will have more MoUs, more collaboration and we will do more ‘Make in India’ as well and we have to work together. Because India is a beautiful country and it’s very good at technology and Belgium also needs to build up because in Europe we have to build up our defence like you do. We need to have more collaboration, we need to have an MoU, defence collaboration and more production,” he said.

Matthias Diependaele, Minister-President of Flanders (a region in Belgium), told ANI that India and Belgium were very compatible, and that India has solutions for many of their problems, and vice versa.

“We are very compatible. There are a lot of challenges in India for which we have solutions, for example, waste management and water management; we have the most important research institute on semiconductors in the world. There are ways in which India can help the Flemish economy; for example, there is a lot of workforce which is very highly skilled, very strong in digitalisation,” he said.

Princess Astrid of Belgium and Francken arrived at Travancore Palace on Tuesday.

Francken also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and addressed a delegation of senior officers from the Indian army.

“This morning I addressed the largest Indian arms companies and a delegation of senior officers from the Indian army. I expressed our support for India’s military build-up, because the country plays a vital role in world security, and offered the full cooperation of the Belgian high-tech companies. That was music to the ears of the Indian army. With a wink to Putin and Xi, army colonel Kuber declared that India and Belgium are entering into a ‘partnership without limits’,” he stated in a post on X.