In back to back monarchial visits, India will soon host King Phillippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium from November 5 to 11 in their first state visit to the country. At present, India is hosting the King and Queen of Bhutan and their 20-month-old son. The royal Bhutanese couple leaves for Thimpu on November 3.
Jan Luykx, ambassador of Belgium, addressing the media regarding the visit of the Belgian royal couple King Philippe and Queen Mathilde from November 5 to 10 | Arvind Jain
"For us, a state visit by a monarch is a big deal, because during his reign, a king usually does just one state visit to any country," said Jan Luykx, ambassador of Belgium to India. The two nations are celebrating the 70th year of the establishment of diplomatic ties with each other. Previously, King Baudouin and King Albert II visited India in 1970 and 2008, respectively.
The couple will begin their visit with a private visit to the Taj Mahal and then spend a packed four days in Delhi and Mumbai, attending a slew of business meets and seminars. The two countries are likely to formalise 41 deals, ranging from twinning of states like Meghalaya with Walloon to MoUs in clean energy, innovative technology, academic tie ups and heritage link ups. The royal couple will be accompanied by a nearly 130 strong delegation that includes chief ministers of some Belgian states, the minister for foreign affairs and the senate secretary for foreign affairs. Part of the delegation are also 90 CEOs and a 30-members strong academician group. For the Mumbai leg of the visit, there will also be Belgians of Indian origin who are involved in the diamond trade in Antwerp.
Commemorating the Indian soldiers who fought and perished in World War I is a big project for Belgium, and the visit will include the release of a book on the Indian contribution, jointly brought out by the two governments. The king will also inaugurate an exhibition on the subject, which will be open to the public from November 13. And while Prince Charles, on an earlier visit, had met the Mumbai dabbawallahs and given them a global spotlight, Queen Mathilde, in Mumbai, will interact with the National Domestic Workers Movement, an organisation started by a Belgian nun Jeane Devos in 1985.
