Indian PM Modi meets his Dutch counterpart for talks

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met his Dutch counterpart during a brief stop in the Netherlands on his way home from meeting President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.

Modi met Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday at the Dutch premier’s official residence in a leafy Hague suburb, pledging to discuss closer links between the two countries.

Modi says that in the year that the Netherlands and India mark the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations, “it is absolutely natural that we focus even more on our bilateral relations.”

After his talks with Rutte and other government ministers, Modi was meeting Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at their home outside The Hague and later was heading to a gathering of members of the Indian community in The Hague.