In India, The Crown Prince Couple will also take part in a number of cultural visits, just as Their Royal Highnesses will meet with the country’s president, vice president and foreign affairs minister. From the Danish side, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard accompany The Crown Prince Couple during the visit to India.

The visit focuses on green transition with particular focus on water and energy. Under the theme “Partners for Green and Sustainable Progress”, the Danish delegation and Indian government representatives and business leaders will participate in seminars and company visits aimed at promoting export opportunities for Danish companies in the country and strengthening the green strategic partnership between Denmark and India.

Sunday, 26 February

The day’s program takes place in the city of Agra.

11:30
The Crown Prince Couple visit Taj Mahal
India’s famous marble monument Taj Mahal is located near the northern India city Agra, which previously was the capital of the Great Mughals. Here, the Great Mughal Shah Jahan built a monument to his late wife Mumtaz Mahal during the years of 1632-1653.

The Taj Mahal and the complex surrounding the monument is the first place The Crown Prince Couple visit in India. Their Royal Highnesses will tour the site and, among other things, see the sarcophagi of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal in the center of the monument. It will be first visit to the Taj Mahal by The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess.

13:45
The Crown Prince Couple visit Agra Fort
By the banks of the Yamuna River lies Agra Fort, which is fortified by a ring wall of red sandstone more than two kilometers long. The Crown Prince Couple will visit the fort and get a tour of the area, whose history goes back more than 1000 years. It was the Great Mughal Shah Jahan – the Taj Mahal’s builder – who completed the fort in its current form around 400 years ago. From the fort, Shah Jahan could for the rest of his life – some of the years spent under house arrest after losing power to his son – view his wife’s memorial monument, Taj Mahal. 

During the time of the Mughal Empire, Agra Fort was the center of the empire. 

Monday, 27 February

The capital New Delhi is the setting for the first two days of the Crown Prince Couple’s official visit to India. 

09:00
The Crown Prince Couple participate in courtesy visit with India’s foreign affairs minister, HE Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
The official visit to India begins when The Crown Prince Couple and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen meet with India’s Foreign Affairs Minister, HE Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, at ITC Maurya in New Delhi. 

The Indian foreign affairs minister was received by HM The Queen at Fredensborg Palace in 2021, when the foreign affairs minister was on an official visit to Denmark. 

10:50
The Crown Prince Couple take part in wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi
This year, it has been 75 years since Mahatma Gandhi was murdered in New Delhi. As an official start of TRH The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess’s visit to India, Their Royal Highnesses lay a wreath at the site where Gandhi was cremated on 31 January 1948.

Gandhi was an Indian political leader who united large portions of the Indian population, which among other things led to India’s independence in 1947.

12:00
The Crown Prince Couple are officially received by India’s vice president, HE Jagdeep Dhankhar, with subsequent luncheon banquet 
The Indian vice president, HE Jagdeep Dhankhar, is the host of the Crown Prince Couple’s official visit to India, and the vice president will welcome Their Royal Highnesses to the country with a reception at Sushma Swaraj Bhavan. Afterwards, The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess are the guests of honor at a luncheon banquet at the same place. During the banquet, there will be cultural features. 

15:15
The Crown Prince Couple open the silver exhibition at the National Museum in New Delhi
As part of the official visit, The Crown Prince Couple, together with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen, open the exhibition “Silver Treasures from Denmark and India” at the National Museum in New Delhi. The silver exhibition displays Indian and Danish silver crafting traditions, and, at the opening of the exhibition, The Crown Prince Couple take part in a lamp lighting ceremony that is a traditional Indian ceremony regarded as bringing good luck.

The exhibition has come about in a collaboration between Museum Kolding and the Indian national museum, and is an activity under the cultural exchange agreement between Denmark and India, which was signed during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Denmark in the spring of 2022. The agreement supports strengthened cooperation in the cultural sphere.

18:30 
The Crown Prince Couple participate in Grand Dinner in connection with the Danish business promotional campaign in India  
The diplomatic relations between Denmark and India are celebrated at a Grand Dinner in New Delhi, where The Crown Prince Couple are the evening’s guests of honor. At the dinner, representatives from the 38 participating Danish companies take part, as will Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard. For the Grand Dinner, the participating Danish companies have the opportunity to invite selected business contacts to the arrangement.

Tuesday, 28 February

09:30
The Crown Prince Couple participate in the opening of the Danish business promotional campaign “Partners for Green and Sustainable Progress”  
Under the theme “Partners for Green and Sustainable Progress”, The Crown Prince Couple lead the business promotional campaign in India, in which 38 Danish companies participate. The Crown Prince delivers the opening speech and, together with The Crown Princess, will attend the signing ceremonies between Danish and Indian companies. 

During the business promotional campaign, the participating Danish companies are expected to gain insight into additional market opportunities and build up knowledge about new partnerships and new business opportunities in India. In addition, they will gain an understanding of some of the large public investment projects with potential for Danish companies as well as access to relevant decision-makers. The Danish companies take part with different objectives – some are new to the market and participate as part of a larger effort to gain a foothold, while others are already massively present and want to invest further. The larger companies view the promotional campaign as an opportunity to profile the investments and jobs that they contribute in India.  

Denmark makes a substantial contribution to India’s green transition particularly in the areas of energy and water, which are the business promotional campaign’s two sector tracks. 

11:00
HRH The Crown Prince takes part in sessions at the Danish-Indian business promotional campaign “Partners for Green and Sustainable Progress”  
India is Denmark’s 18^th largest export market. 166 Danish companies are already present in India with 91,237 employees, and India additionally has ambitious climate objectives that Danish companies can help to fulfill.

HRH The Crown Prince will participate in a session on the green transition in India, in which Danish solutions in wind, power-to-X and offshore wind are in focus and will be presented to Indian companies and decision-makers. In the coming years, India is expected to become one of the world’s largest markets for renewable energy.

11:00
HRH The Crown Princess visits hospital in her role as patron of the Maternity Foundation
Since 2010, HRH The Crown Princess has been the patron of the Maternity Foundation, which is a Danish organization that works to ensure the life and health of women and infants in connection with pregnancy and births in countries where several population groups do not have access to health services.

During the official visit to India, The Crown Princess in her role as patron will visit the hospital All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi to gain insight into the hospital’s and the Maternity Foundation’s work in India. In addition, The Crown Princess will get an overall impression of the work with pregnancies and problems related to maternal health in India. The visit will have special focus on the situation for the most vulnerable Indian women.

14:00
The Crown Prince Couple meet the participating Danish companies  
The Crown Prince Couple visit company stands from the Danish business delegation. Here, representatives from the participating companies will talk about their work in the areas of wind energy and energy efficiency.

16:15
The Crown Prince Couple are received by India’s President, HE Droupadi Murmu, at the presidential palace 
At the presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in the heart of New Delhi, India’s President, HE Droupadi Murmu, receives The Crown Prince Couple in connection with Their Royal Highnesses’ official visit to India. After the courtesy meeting, President Droupadi Murmu takes The Crown Prince Couple on a tour of the presidential palace’s garden, “Amrit Udyan”.

Rashtrapati Bhavan was built when the decision was made to move India’s capital from Calcutta to New Delhi. The palace was ready in 1926 and at that time was called “The Viceroy’s House”. When India got its first president back in 1950, the building was renamed as Rashtrapati Bhavan, which means “The President’s House”.

Wednesday, 1 March

The day’s program takes place in the megalopolis Chennai, which is located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The state is the place in India where the majority of Danish investments have taken place over time.

10:00
HRH The Crown Prince visits IIT Madras Research Park and takes part in a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony
Together with the foreign affairs minister and the climate, energy and utilities minister, HRH The Crown Prince will visit the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Research Park to put focus on development opportunities in the energy field for Danish companies.

IIT Madras is a public technical university situated in Chennai and is a recognized university of national importance. IIT Madras has great significance for companies related to renewable energy, both in terms of highly qualified labor and in the form of cooperation of high technical nature. The Crown Prince and the ministers will attend a seminar that focuses on development opportunities for the companies in onshore and offshore wind and fuels of the future. In addition, His Royal Highness will gain insight into India’s first offshore wind tender, port expansion, onshore wind turbine breakthroughs and Danish-Indian green hydrogen projects.

At the conclusion, The Crown Prince, the foreign affairs minister and three state ministers will cut a green ribbon in a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony, which will reflect the development of offshore wind and associated port expansion in the state. 

10:00
HRH The Crown Princess visits the engineering company Larsen & Toubro 
Larsen and Toubro (L&T) was established in 1938 by the two Danish engineers Henning Holck-Larsen and Søren Kristian Toubro, who both were stationed in India by FLSmidth. HRH The Crown Princess visits L&T, which today is one of India’s largest companies with approximately 340,000 employees. During her visit, The Crown Princess will get an introduction to the company’s work with, among other things, water supply, wastewater treatment and energy.

Also during her visit, The Crown Princess will see the Henning Holck-Larsen Museum, which is at L&T’s main office in Chennai. The museum presents the history of the company and the special connection with Denmark.

12:15
HRH The Crown Prince meets young entrepreneurs from IIT Madras Research Park
At the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Research Park, HRH The Crown Prince will meet young entrepreneurs who work with green transition.

12:15
HRH The Crown Princess visits the main Grundfos office in India 
The close collaboration between the Indian state Tamil Nadu and Danish companies is the focal point when Her Royal Highness attends and gives a speech at a seminar on water sector cooperation between Denmark and India. 

The seminar is held at the main office in India of Grundfos, which is one of the central Danish companies in the water sector in India. 

13:30
The Crown Prince Couple are received by the governor of Tamil Nadu province, HE R. N. Ravi
The Crown Prince Couple are received by the governor of Tamil Nadu province, HE R. N. Ravi, who is the official host of the visit by Their Royal Highnesses in the state. Afterwards, the Crown Prince Couple take part in a luncheon banquet at the same place.

18:30
The Crown Prince Couple take part in the business promotional campaign’s concluding reception
With the title “Denmark and Tamil Nadu – Partners for Sustainable Growth”, The Crown Prince Couple and the participating business delegation will celebrate Denmark’s long-time engagement in Tamil Nadu. After the reception, The Crown Prince Couple take part in a dinner, which marks Grundfos’ 25^th anniversary in India.