NEW DELHI, Sep 3: Germany on Wednesday said it is determined to expand its overall ties with India as it highlighted the “reliability, predictability and friendship” in the relations that is crucial to navigate the current geopolitical turmoil.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said this after holding wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here.
“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,” he said, showcasing the strength of India-Germany relations.
At the same time, Wadephul, at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart, said Russia’s war of “aggression” remains the biggest challenge to Europe’s security.
The German Foreign Minister 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.
Wadephul acknowledged that “we don’t always see 100 per cent eye-to-eye with our Indian friends” on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“I’m grateful for the open discussion we had here. Peace is the basis for security, freedom, and prosperity,” he said.
The German foreign minister also justified Western sanctions on Russia. “There have been several packages of sanctions that we’ve imposed amongst them, the so-called oil price cap. The purpose being that we want to withdraw the financial bases that Russia has and that enable it to wage this war,” he said.“But at the same time, it has been of great importance to us to ensure that there are no bottlenecks when it comes to countries supplying… with the energy they need and that there are no unreasonable increases in prices,” he said.The German foreign minister said, “When it comes to India defending itself against terrorism, Germany continues to be firmly at your side.” He also said that Germany strongly supports the EU-India free trade agreement.“We hope that this can be speedily negotiated so that it can be concluded before the end of this year, in autumn this year, and hopefully lead to a ratification process,” he said.“If others set up impediments to trade, we should respond by lowering these impediments and hurdles,” he said.
Asked about China, Wadephul said, “For us, China is a partner in some areas… We also view China as a competitor,” he said.
JAISHANKAR:
The volatility on global economic and geopolitical landscape has made a “very compelling” case for India and Germany to expand ties and the proposed free trade deal between New Delhi and European Union should be firmed up soon as it will help stabilise the world economy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday, against the backdrop of Washington’s trade and tariff war.
Following his talks with German foreign minister Johann Wadephul, Jaishankar also 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.
“We hope that another round (of negotiation) takes place fairly soon. We would like this to move to a decisive conclusion in the coming days.
“And we believe that this would be in our mutual interest. It will help stabilise the global economy,” he said at a joint media briefing with Wadephul.
In an important announcement, the external affairs minister also said it was agreed 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.
Jaishankar also thanked Germany for its support to India’s fight against terrorism. (PTI)