Vibrant Gujarat: Dutch companies to discuss flying cars, smart cities, waste management

Smart city development, waste management, food and agriculture and logistics will be among the key focus areas in the engagements of the ministerial delegation from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which will be participating in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

Led by Menno Snel, Minister of Finance for Taxation & Customs of the Netherlands, the delegation will have over 100 delegates from 54 organisations, including 45 companies, 3 trade associations and 5-6 government agencies, making it one of the biggest foreign delegations at the summit.

The Netherlands is participating as a partner country at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit for the third time in a row.

"During Vibrant Gujarat 2017, eight memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed, of which about 60 per cent can be considered successful. The total investment the Netherlands has made in various projects in India involves investment of around 2.7 billion euros, including investments in Hazira port, DSM Vadodara, and Vopac in Kandla," said Amlan Bora, Commissioner (Trade & Investment), Netherlands Business Support Office, Ahmedabad.

Many Investment Intentions along with signing of Strategic Partnerships in the areas of technology transfer, R&D and education are expected to be signed during the summit.

At the Netherlands' Country Seminar during January 18-20, the participating Dutch companies will showcase their products, services and expertise.

A major attraction will be a presentation by a Dutch player Pal V, the first company with a production variant of a flying car, with plans to deliver to the first customer in 2019-early 2020. The global market size of flying cars is expected to reach 1.5 trillion dollars by 2040.

This year, the focus is also on suitable technology for waste management and technology in the textile sector, to handle effluent treatment to ensure sustainable development.