During the State visit of Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind to Keukenhof, Amsterdam in 2022, the Government of the Netherlands had extended the gesture to dedicate a unique double yellow Maitri Tulip to mark the strong friendship and historical bond between the two nations.
The Tulip variety was aptly named as ‘Maitri’ which in Sanskrit means friendship, by India’s President Ram Nath Kovind. The Maitri tulip is a unique double variety hybridised by 100-year old Dutch flower bulb company en Zonen B.V. in 2001.
With the naming of Maitri Tulip, India and the Netherlands celebrated 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2022 during the ceremony at Keukenhof. During his addressing at the ceremony, President Ram Nath Kovind has said “Today, a new flower will bloom for India-Netherlands relations. I hope this will inspire us to work towards strengthening bonds of friendship and ties between people of India and the Netherlands.”
India and Netherlands share strong bilateral relations in the field of agriculture, health, urban development, science, and technology cooperation. The Netherlands is also an important economic and commercial partner of India since it is the country’s fourth-largest source of foreign direct investment.
Niraj Chhetri, founder of Himalayan Florica, during his recent visit to the Netherlands visited the company to meet with the world famous tulip breeder Mr. Jan de Wit.
Mr. Jan was kind enough to give a detail tour of the facility at his garden and also discussed the prospect of promoting Maitri tulip variety in India and across the world.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Jan and Himalayan Florica founder, Niraj Chhetri have agreed in principle to work together to promote tulip in India.
Himalayan Florica will be an exclusive importer of all Maitri variety into India and both the partners will work to generate interest and create market opportunities for the Maitri tulip variety.