India and Belgium target doubling trade in five years with defence, clean energy focus

India and Belgium will work to double bilateral trade over the next five years, expanding cooperation into defence, clean energy, critical minerals, and semiconductors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Thursday alongside Belgian PM Bart De Wever in New Delhi. Bilateral trade reached $13.01 billion in 2025-26, with Belgium's cumulative FDI in India at $4.2 billion since 2000. The leaders signed a renewable energy MOU and agreed to connect Belgium's imec research institute with India's semiconductor ecosystem, while also collaborating on defence equipment like the Zorawar tank. De Wever's three-day visit, the first by a Belgian PM in two decades, follows a March 2025 Belgian Economic Mission that produced 38 MOUs. A green ammonia project in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, involving Belgian firm John Cockerill, is also underway.