New Delhi, Sept 3: The volatility on global economic and geopolitical landscape has made a “very compelling” case for India and Germany to expand ties and the proposed free trade deal between New Delhi and European Union should be firmed up soon as it will help stabilise the world economy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday, against the backdrop of Washington’s trade and tariff war.
Following his talks with German foreign minister Johann Wadephul, Jaishankar also welcomed Berlin’s resolve to double trade with India and said the focus of the deliberations was to boost bilateral cooperation in areas of trade, defence and security, green hydrogen, semiconductor manufacturing, future technologies, clean energy, education and mobility.
“We hope that another round (of negotiation) takes place fairly soon. We would like this to move to a decisive conclusion in the coming days.
“And we believe that this would be in our mutual interest. It will help stabilise the global economy,” he said at a joint media briefing with Wadephul.
“It will be a big factor there. It will be kind of one of the elements of a ballast which today the world economy really needs,” he said in remarks seen as significant in the face of strain in India-US ties over the Trump administration’s tariff policies.
“Wadephul assured me that Germany would put its full weight” behind the FTA negotiations with the European Union, Jaishankar said.
In an important announcement, the external affairs minister also said it was agreed to grant gratis visas for short-term school and college visits to further promote student exchanges, adding both sides resolved to expand scientific collaborations and research as well as people-to-people exchanges.
Jaishankar also thanked Germany for its support to India’s fight against terrorism. “We greatly value the understanding that Germany has shown with regard to India’s fight against terrorism. Minister Wadephul has himself been explicit about our right to defend our people against terrorist attacks,” he said.
The external affairs minister said both sides held detailed discussions on expanding ties in areas of trade, defence and security, green hydrogen, semiconductor, future technologies, clean energy and mobility.
“We are seeing very sweeping changes on the global strategic landscape. We’re also seeing a lot of volatility on the global economic landscape. And I think together they make a very powerful case for India and the European Union and India and Germany to work much more closely with each other,” he said.
“This is a relationship where there are considerable possibilities for fairly rapid growth.”
Jaishankar said there are “big changes underway in the world” and they make a very “compelling case for a deeper, stronger, wider India-Germany relationship”.
The external affairs minister, on defence cooperation between the two sides, said it was broadly agreed to expand bilateral military engagements.
He also welcomed Germany addressing certain issues relating to export controls in the context of defence cooperation.
“In the past, we have had significant export control difficulties in the defence and security domain. I would like to express my appreciation today for the smoothening of those processes and more expeditious clearances. We also spoke about greater industry collaboration between our two countries in this context,” he said.
Asked about the proposed cooperation between the two countries in the area of submarines, he said that it was “not something we would discuss in detail.”
“That’s something which is between the defence ministries. But we, for example, discussed the faster clearances and growing defence trade between India and Germany, which has really gone up quite significantly,” he said.
On bilateral trade, Jaishankar said it was almost Euro 50 billion last year, and efforts are on to expand it.
“Minister Wadephul is on record, I saw one of his interviews, where he said that he was very confident we will be doubling our trade. Let me assure him that India fully reciprocates that sentiment and looks forward to working with the German government.”
The external affairs minister said India welcomes German investments in the semiconductor sector. “Indian talent can make a significant contribution to Germany’s own expanding capabilities here. I must say that the model of talent preparation and flow that Germany has evolved has been particularly effective,” he said. (PTI)
