New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) India and the Netherlands are set to accelerate their bilateral trade and investment with the Dutch government expanding its embassy network here to aid Indian investors eyeing business opportunities in Europe's key economic hub.

The Dutch government is planning to appoint a counsellor for industrial affairs in New Delhi and its embassy network is being strengthened through a science and technology counsellor, said the visiting Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade Karien van Gennip here Monday.

"Indian companies have great ambitions and are increasingly finding their way to markets other than the US and the UK," she told Indian businessmen at a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"Europe is an important market for any fast growing, ambitious international business and choosing Europe means choosing the Netherlands," said van Gennip, who began her six-day visit to India Sunday.

The expanded network at the Dutch embassy here will help Indian investors with customised business partnership solutions, she stressed.

Projecting the Netherlands as the "best place for Indian companies to access the European internal market", van Gennip underlined strategic advantages of investing in her country, which besides having a strategic location in Europe has a world-class business environment, including excellent information technology and research and development infrastructure.

During her five-day visit, she will also go to Hyderabad and Chennai.

"India is and can be an engine of the next round of global trade. Above all, India can be a key source of innovations," said Rutger Koopmans, leader of the accompanying Dutch business delegation.

In a glowing tribute to the spirit of Indian enterprise and the country's growing profile in the Netherlands, Koopmans said: "This new mindset and way of thinking about India is now strongly in place in the Netherlands, thanks to so many Indian companies who have already found their way to the Netherlands."

India is one of the three priority countries for the Dutch Trade Board, a public-private partnership set up by the government a year ago, that aims to promote and increase international business.