Marisa Gerards, Ambassador of the Netherlands, interacting with The Hindu in Visakhapatnam.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU
The economic growth trajectory of the State of Andhra Pradesh is on the rise and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is serious on the concept of ‘speed of doing business’, which provides us a perfect platform for investing and doing business in the State, said Marisa Gerards, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
She was in Visakhapatnam recently with a delegation from the embassy and business leaders. In an interaction with The Hindu, she said there are a number of sectors and areas, where Netherlands may cooperate and work together with A.P.
‘’A.P. has been on our list for a long time and it is an important State for us. The vision of the CM of having an integrated logistic network matches our vision,’‘ she added.
According to her, A.P. with its long coastline provides a lot of opportunities for the port and shipping industry.
“As an example to this, recently, APM Terminals has signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board (APMB) to develop three major ports in Andhra Pradesh — Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam, and Mulapeta. The company will invest about ₹9,000 crore to establish modern terminals and advanced cargo-handling systems at these ports, aiming to make Andhra Pradesh a major maritime trade and logistics hub for India,” she said.
Other areas of interest
This apart we can look into other allied sectors such as shipbuilding, port design, and repairs, said Ms. Marisa.
The other areas that we can look into are agriculture, innovation technology, green hydrogen, health care, medical technology, education and pharmaceuticals, she said.
“We can also work together on issues such as climate change, waste and water management,” added Ms. Marisa.
The ambassador also spoke about collaborating in key technology areas, and semiconductors was one area where partnership can be looked into, in a big way.
“Not only A.P., the Netherlands is looking to partner with India also in the semiconductor sector,” she said.
According to her, food processing and food chain, dairy products and shrimp are the areas where the Netherlands is looking forward to collaborating with A.P.
“We already have an NGO from the Netherlands working in A.P. and Telangana with the farmers. About 33,000 farmers are working with this NGO on regenerative agriculture,” she informed.
According to the ambassador, this is just the beginning and Indo-Dutch partnership will go a long way.
Published – September 25, 2025 07:13 pm IST
