Status: 02/25/2023 11:39 a.m
According to Chancellor Scholz, Germany already has “very good” relations with India. His current visit to New Delhi serves to expand cooperation. After a meeting with Prime Minister Modi, Scholz called for the country to take a clear stance on the Russian war of aggression.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital New Delhi at the start of his two-day visit to India. After a meeting, he called for a clear stance by India on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. “The world suffers from this aggression,” he said. The war was also “above all a major catastrophe” because Russia had violated the international principle “that one should not use force to move borders.”
India is dependent on Russia
India is heavily dependent on Russia for energy and armaments. So far, the country has not condemned the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and does not support the sanctions. On Thursday, it again abstained from a vote at the UN General Assembly on a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops. However, 141 of the 193 UN member states voted in favor of the text.
Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, India’s goal has been to “solve it through dialogue and diplomacy,” Modi said in the joint statement. India is ready to contribute to any peace talks. He agrees with Scholz that “multilateral institutions need to be improved in order to better reflect global reality”.
“Building very good relationships”
Scholz had previously praised the “very good” relations between the two countries. He hopes “that we will continue to develop these very good relations and discuss intensively all topics that are important for the development of our countries, but also for peace in the world”.
The federal government sees the country with 1.4 billion inhabitants as a strategic partner and a great opportunity for German companies to get involved.
Accompanied by business delegation
Scholz will be accompanied by an eleven-strong business delegation on his two-day trip to New Delhi and Bangalore. Among them are representatives from Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, SAP and Deutsche Post.
The investments of the 1,800 German companies in the country so far should be increased, said Scholz after the meeting with Modi. In addition, they both campaigned for an EU-India free trade agreement. The next Asia-Pacific conference of German business will take place in India in 2024. At the same time, the chancellor campaigned to recruit IT experts from India to work in Germany. The two countries also wanted to work more closely together in research and development.
Modi pointed out that both sides have already formed a partnership in the field of green and sustainable development. Both sides also wanted to increase their efforts in the fight against climate change.
Closer armaments cooperation is also an issue. Among other things, Modi apparently wants to buy six conventional submarines worth 4.9 billion euros. ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) is under discussion. Cooperation will also be strengthened in the defense sector, Modi said after the meeting, without giving details.
Chancellor Scholz is in India with a business delegation
Markus Sambale, ARD Berlin, February 25, 2023 5:57 a.m