On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel along with a business delegation and cabinet colleagues came to India for a two-day visit for the fifth round of the biennial Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC). Merkel is the first foreign leader to visit India after Jammu and Kashmir was officially bifurcated into two Union Territories on October 31. During her visit, Merkel met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind. On Friday, Germany and India signed 17 agreements and five joint declarations of intent in fields spanning space, civil aviation, maritime technology, medicine, yoga and education. “India and Germany can work together in areas like artificial intelligence, skills, education and more. We welcome German cooperation in our plans for smart cities, e-moblility and harnessing water resources. 2 Defence corridors also bring many opportunities for German companies,” Modi said in a tweet on Friday. The joint statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said, “Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Modi reiterated that the Indo-German Strategic Partnership is based on the common values and principles of democracy, free and fair trade, and rules-based international order, as well as on mutual trust and respect.” In a separate interaction with the media Merkel commented on the Kashmir issue, “The situation for the people on the ground as of now is not good for the long-term, this certainly has to change,” she said, adding that she would advocate “de-escalation and relaxation”. Merkel also said, “While “economic relations” have increased, Merkel said they could be “intensified even more”, while referring to the fast-track mechanism. “We can bring some cases where difficulties have occurred in terms of economic investments. We could really find help here quickly and make India a modern industrialised nation.” What were the key points of discussion? Broadly, discussion between the two countries ranged in fields such as artificial intelligence and digital transformation, trade and investment, climate and sustainable development, “bringing people together” and sharing global responsibility. For the development and use of AI, Germany and India agreed to work closely together to conduct bilateral and multilateral research and development activities. Previously, the two countries had signed the Joint Declaration in the Field of Digitalisation, Empowerment and Economic Impact in 2017 to broaden the digital dialogue. Furthermore, the two countries acknowledged that the global action towards climate change was “inadequate”. “They acknowledged the successful Indo-German Solar Partnership founded in 2015 and the cooperation on Green Energy Corridors established in 2013. In order to sustain the positive developments and to achieve the ambitious targets of the Indian government to provide 175 GW power from renewable energy until 2022 and 450 GW in later years and of the German Government to provide 80% of total power generation from renewable energy by 2050,” the statement said. The two leaders also emphasised the “global scourge” of terrorism and urged countries to not let their territories be used to launch terrorist activities. Indo-German Chamber of Commerce At the annual general meeting of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce held in Delhi on Saturday, Merkel said that she saw good opportunities for investment in India by Germany in infrastructure such as high-speed trains. She also expressed the German government's intention to simplify the immigration procedure of Indian skilled workers to Germany. Significantly, Merkel emphasised the need to restart discussions on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union, talks for which began in the year 2007. This trade agreement has been a long pending demand of Germany, which is India’s largest trading partner in Europe. Over 1,700 German companies operate in India and an FTA would bring an end to the uncertainty faced by these investors, especially after an investment protection agreement between the two countries came to an end in 2016. Furthermore, because of the complicated bureaucratic procedures in India, German investors hold back from making investments. Merkel said that Germany will spend up to 1 billion euros in India over the next five years as part of a new partnership between the nations on green urban mobility. "Anyone looking at the air quality in Delhi yesterday will certainly have some good arguments for needing more electric buses," German newspaper Lausitzer Rundschau quoted Merkel as saying.
