The Hague/ New Delhi, April 7 : President Ram Nath Kovind held productive talks with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of Netherlands during which he proposed a New Age Partnership with the Netherlands. He also suggested scaling up joint efforts to address global challenges, promoting cooperation in AI and emerging technology, and working together in the Indo-Pacific region. The two sides also discussed advancing the Strategic Partnership on Water, and strengthening the bilateral cooperation in agriculture, health, startups and climate innovation. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in tweets, said of the meeting on Wednesday: “President Kovind @rashtrapatibhvn had a productive meeting with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of Netherlands @MinPres at Binnenhof in The Hague “President Kovind in his interaction with Prime Minister proposed New Age Partnership with the Netherlands. “Suggested scaling up joint efforts to address global challenges, promoting cooperation in AI & emerging technology, and working together in the Indo-Pacific region. “Leaders also saw presentations by six Indian entrepreneurs working in the Water, Agriculture and Health Agenda (WAH). “Both sides discussed advancing our Strategic Partnership on Water, & strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture, health, startups, climate innovation.” The President’s Office in a tweet said: “President Ram Nath Kovind met Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands at The Hague. Both leaders held discussions on bilateral issues and cooperation in water, agriculture, healthcare, science and technology, urban development and smart cities.” PM Rutte in a tweet said that the two sides also discussed Ukraine. “It was an honour to host President Ram Nath Kovind (@rashtrapatibhvn ) at a government lunch today. We discussed ways of further strengthening the excellent relations between the Netherlands and India. President Kovind and I also discussed the horrific situation in Ukraine.” “At the working lunch we were joined by representatives of Indian startups that have established operations in the Netherlands in areas such as artificial intelligence, financial technology and IT services.” RN