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German Chancellor Scholz earlier today met PM Modi to strengthen bilateral ties, focusing on defence, trade and clean energy
Scholz arrived in Delhi late on Thursday as part of his three-day official visit to the country.
Underlining growing relations between India and Germany, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he was happy to expand and elevate the strategic partnership between the two countries during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s India visit.
Scholz arrived in Delhi late on Thursday as part of his three-day official visit to the country. Welcoming Scholz to India, Modi praised the progress made in India-Germany ties in recent years. As both sides co-chaired the seventh Intergovernmental Consultations (IGC) at Hyderabad House, Modi said that increasing cooperation in areas like defence and technology has emerged as a sign of “mutual trust” between the two strategic partners.
#WATCH | Delhi: PM Narendra Modi tells German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, “I welcome you and your delegation to the 7th Inter-Governmental Consultation between India and Germany. This is your third visit to India, and fortunately, this is the first IGC of my third tenure. In a way,… pic.twitter.com/AzCSlTY56p— ANI (@ANI) October 25, 2024
“In the last IGC in Berlin in 2022, we made important decisions for our bilateral cooperation. In two years, there has been encouraging progress in various sectors of our strategic relations. Increasing cooperation in areas like defence, technology, energy, green and sustainable development have become symbols of mutual trust,” the Prime Minister added.
‘Not a transactional relation’
Highlighting how the world is going through an era of conflicts, PM Modi said there are serious concerns regarding the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific Region. “In a time like this, a strategic partnership between India and Germany has emerged as a strong anchor,” he added.
The Prime Minister further said India-Germany relations are not “transactional” in nature but rather transformational ties between the two democracies. “In this regard, we welcome the Focus on India Strategy issued by you…I am delighted that to expand and elevate our partnership, we are taking several new and important initiatives and moving from Whole of Government to an approach of Whole of Nation,” he said.
Scholz’s India visit comes less than a month after the German Cabinet adopted the key strategic document Focus on India, which sheds light on the future direction of bilateral relations with India. Earlier this month, the German Government said that it wants to raise the strategic partnership that has underpinned its relationship with India since 2000 to a new level.