Jaishankar Says Geopolitical Landscape Making 'Compelling' Case For Closer India-Germany Ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday claimed that the volatility on global economic and geopolitical landscape has made a "very compelling" case for India and Germany to expand ties. He said that  the proposed free trade deal between New Delhi and the European Union should be firmed up soon as it will help stabilise the world economy, PTI reported. 

Jaishankar’s remarks came following his meeting with German foreign minister Johann Wadephula. Wadephula, who is on a two-day visit to India asserted that "reliability, friendship, predictability in times like these, in times of uncertainty, in times where we witness wars and conflicts, are of invaluable value in these times.”

The German minister also remarked that Russia's war of "aggression" remains the biggest challenge to Europe's security. He also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis on ending the Ukraine conflict during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China's Tianjin.

"We Europeans are doing our best, working with our American and Ukrainian friends to ensure that this war ends soon and that Ukraine finds peace as a sovereign state," he said.

Jaishankar, at a joint media briefing with Wadephul, 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.

Jaishankar also announced 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.

"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.

On ties with Germany, the External Affairs Minister said that “For us, this is an enormously important relationship. This relationship is growing in substance… It is a relationship where largely what we promise to each other, and policies that we have, remain constant and predictable.”

Jaishankar also mentioned that the bilateral trade was almost Euro 50 billion last year, and efforts are on to expand it.

With PTI inputs