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Germany keen to strengthen economic ties with India

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who arrives on Wednesday, has chosen India as the first Asian country to visit keeping in view the huge untapped potential of bilateral economic relations and the need to strengthen the newly-embarked upon strategic partnership between the two nations.

The 52-year-old minister, accompanied by a delegation, primarily comprising business leaders, will begin his two-day visit in Bangalore where he will meet young information technology specialists to get an insight into the software industry in India.

Germany's recent decision to offer green cards to IT experts from India on other countries will also be one of the issues that Fischer will take up, German Ambassador to India Heinrich-Deitrich Dieckmann told newspersons today.

Dieckmann said the legal basis for inviting it experts would be set in motion soon and the first of them should be reaching Germany in the beginning of August.

On May 18, Fischer will be in New Delhi where he will call on President K R Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and Science and Technology Minister M M Joshi before embarking on a three-and-a-half hour of foreign policy consultations with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh.

Dieckmann said Fischer's visit reflected Germany's recognition of India's potential as a nation that should play a big role in global affairs.

He said this was why Germany was keen on the strategic partnership that would go beyond bilateral and regional aspects and look into global challenges.

India's stability and strength in the South Asian region was something that Germany recognises, particularly after the Kargil crisis where New Delhi's mature handling of the situation was greatly appreciated, the German ambassador said.

But the main focus of Fischer's visit will be to strengthen economic ties.

''We are pretty strong here but if you look at the figures, it's still not very impressive,'' Dieckmann said. Germany, he said, was expecting India to become a big economic power and would like to continue to be a partner of preference.

Germany, which stands among the top five trading partners with India, is the second largest investor here. There are about 800 Indo-German joint ventures, the ambassador said.

Dieckmann said one of the issues that should come up during the meeting in Delhi was the need to increase flight capacity between India and Germany. This would be a precondition to bringing business here.

UNI

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