Mumbai: Belgium's Princess Astrid on Wednesday visited the country's only penguin enclosure at the city zoo, and also interacted with hi-tech startups.
Princess Astrid, who is on a week-long visit to the country, started her day with a visit to Route Mobile, which is now majority-owned by Belgium's state-run telco Proximus.
It was an absolute honor and privilege to host Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium, along with the esteemed Belgian Economic Mission, at Route Mobile’s headquarters in Mumbai. The visit provided a wonderful opportunity to showcase our innovations, exchange ideas, and… pic.twitter.com/1sbyZyO4fP
— Rajdip Gupta (@RouteSms) March 5, 2025
Princess Astrid also takes part in a round table discussion on possible cooperation between Belgium and India in the fields of defence and armaments. pic.twitter.com/NqmvzrHFWJ
— Belgian Royal Palace (@MonarchieBe) March 4, 2025
Princess Astrid, who is leading a 300-member economic delegation for a visit in the country between March 1-8, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi on Tuesday. The visit assumes importance because it comes amid massive shifts in global trade due to the policies adopted by US President Donald Trump.
After the meeting, Modi said that there is need to 'unlock limitless opportunities' that exist between the two countries.
At the Route Mobile facility in suburban Malad, the Princess and her economic delegation heard five startups who have attained breakthroughs in space and drone technology.
Later, she went to one of the facilities of the country's biggest IT Services exporter TCS, where the delegation discussed strategic collaborations for long-term growth.
They were briefed about TCS' large scale digital transformation initiatives across Europe.
TCS has been present in Belgium since 1992 and the country has 5,000 skilled professionals working for the banking, retail, manufacturing, telecom, travel, transportation and hospitality sectors.
Her delegation included Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot and Minister-President of Government of Flanders, Matthias Diependaele.
Speaking to reporters at the Route Mobile facility, Diependaele said the tariff war will affect everyone in a negative way but also admitted that nobody can influence any outcomes as Trump is democratically elected by the American people.
"It is never a win for anybody. I believe in free trade...trade is not just a way of connecting people or nations or letting welfare and prosperity grow, but is also an instrument for peace," he added.
"In Europe, we have to keep believing that free trade is good for everybody, so we are looking out for new partners to see how we can make that grow," the Minister President of the northern region of the European country said.
The delegation spent the afternoon at the Veermata Jijabai Udyan zoo, where Princess Astrid spent some time around the country's only Humboldt penguin enclosure.
There was also a seminar on life sciences which was organized at a facility in the same premises, which was attended by the Belgian royal and her visiting delegation.
Princess Astrid is scheduled to attend a signing ceremony where 11 Belgian and Indian companies or educational institutes are tying up for mutual good.
The visiting Belgian delegation is scheduled to visit the country's biggest cancer treatment and research facility, Tata Memorial Hospital, and then visit John Cockerill's manufacturing facility in neighbouring Navi Mumbai. Visits have also been planned to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the country's largest container port, for Friday.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)