Angela Merkel was in India for a three day visit from 4th October to 6th October, 2015 for boosting up the bilateral relations with special focus on trade, security and defence.
5th October 2015
Angela Merkel held talks with Modi during 3rd Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) reaffirmed their commitment to pursue reforms of the UN and there were 18 MOUs inked between both countries to attract foreign investment in support of his “Make in India” drive to boost industrial investment and create skilled jobs. Here is the list of deals
- Promotion of German as a Foreign Language in India by making German as the Third language in KV schools and the Promotion of Modern Indian Languages in Germany.
- University Grants Commission (UGC), India and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany on Indo-German Partnerships in Higher Education
- Cooperation in Food Safety between the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the (BVL) on Cooperation in Food Safety.
- Cooperation in field of advanced training of corporate executives and junior executives from India
- Supporting participation of Indian young scientists in Natural Sciences for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.
- Extension of the tenure of the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre
- Summary Record of the Negotiations on Development Cooperation
- Setting up a Fast-Track system for German companies in India.
- Skill Development and Vocational Education and Training
- Development of the Cooperation in the Field of Railways
- Cooperation in the field of manufacturing
- Indo-German Solar Energy Partnership
- Cooperation in Agricultural Studies
- Plant Protection Products
- Disaster Management
- Security Cooperation
- Aviation Security
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Germany returned stolen 10th century Goddess statue to India
After the 3 hour talks and signing of 18 MOUs Angela Merkel presented NaMo a 10th century Goddess Durga idol in Mahishasuramardini avatar during her visit to New Delhi. It had gone missing from Kashmiri temple at Pulwama in 1990s. The statue is a symbol of “victory of good over evil”.
- In 2012 Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) perceived the idol at Linden Museum in Stuggart, Germany.
- Subhash kapoor who was the owner of art gallery named “’art of past” in Manhattan, New York was arrested as a culprit of theft who had also stolen 30 artifacts which includes 17th century Mahabharata manuscripts.
Germany financed Green energy projects with 125 million euro
As a part of Indo- German partnership Germany funded Green Energy Projects programme of India by providing development and technical assistance of 125 million euro (about Rs 915 crore). The loan will finance two green energy projects in Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh which would be strengthened to evacuate more green energy.
LOAN AGREEMENT SIGNED BY
Joint secretary in Ministry of Finance – S Selvakumar
Member of KFW (Federal Republic of Germany) Board Management – Roland Sillar
- From the total loan amount 57 million euro loan would be funded to Himachal Pradesh and 68 million euro to Andhra Pradesh.
6 October 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited German automotive Bosch with focus on innovation and skills development and after that they addressed the Indo-German Summit in Bangalore.
ORGANISERS OF SUMMIT
Fraunhofer India
NASSCOM
- Theme – “Digitising Tomorrow Together – An Indo-German Summit”
- Agenda – To promote Industrie 4.0
During summit 5 MOUs inked to strengthen ties in sectors like telecommunication, solar and defence.
- Agreement between Tata Power and Rohde & Schwarz to manufacture software defined secure radio communications systems for military usage.
- Agreements between Siemens and the Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City
- Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft to collaborate in the field of manufacturing
- Agreement between HMT Limited and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft regarding development of new features in existing products, new product development, and analysis of design for Improvement and new technology development.
With her visit to India there are expectations of greater German investment thereby creating employment opportunities. Already 1500 German companies working in India
FACTS ABOUT INDO-GERMAN RELATIONSHIP
- India and Germany are strategic partners since 2001
- Germany is India’s largest trading partner in European Union
- Germany is the seventh largest foreign investor in India
- The overall exchange of goods and services between the two countries was valued at around 15.96 billion euros last year
- India’s exports to Germany rose marginally to 7.03 billion euros in 2014, its German imports dropped to 8.92 billion euros from 9.19 euros in the previous year
- More than 1,600 Indo-German collaborations and around 600 Indo-German joint ventures are currently in operation.
- The IGC is a unique summit-level dialogue with cabinet participation of both governments to help advance the bilateral partnership across priority areas of mutual interest.
