India and Germany on began their 2nd round of Inter-Governmental Consultations today. Germany is India's largest economic partner in Europe and one of the key global partners for trade, investment and technology.
Germany as the leading state of European Union and as a strong economy, India has a special interest with its relationship with Germany. Germany also sees India as a good trade partner.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will co-chair the Consultations with German Chancellor Angela MerkelDr. Singh is accompanied by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah, Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju and Science and Technology Minister S. Jaipal Reddy.Commerce Minister Anand Sharma .
Terming Germany as a 'key partner' for India in areas like infrastructure, manufacturing, science, technology and clean and renewable energy, Prime Minister Singh had said, 'We expect to sign a number of agreements and Memorandums of Understanding in these areas.'
Indo-German bilateral trade had registered an increase of 18.4 per cent and reached € 18.37 billion in 2011.However, due to global economic slowdown, bilateral trade saw a dip of 5.5 percent last year.India has already made it clear it expects a 'strong political thrust' from Germany, a key member of 27-nation European block, for the inking of the Bilateral Investment and Trade Agreement (BITA).
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