President of Germany Horst K’hler arrives in New Delhi later this evening on a six-day state visit. He is accompanied by a high-level business delegation, focused on Infrastructure, IT and renewable energy. During the visit, President Koehler will have meetings with the President and the Vice- President and will hold talks with the Prime Minister. The External Affairs Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chairperson of the UPA will call on him.<br/><br/>Mr. Kohler will meet with top political leaders and hold discussions on the financial crisis with the RBI Governor. He will also meet key industry representatives as well as Indian intellectuals. The German President will be given a ceremonial reception at the forecourts of Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow morning. He will be visiting Pune and Mumbai also. AIR correspondent Manikant Thakur reports that India and Germany have traditionally enjoyed warm and friendly relations.<br/><br/>The bilateral relations between India and Germany are marked by rapidly growing economic and trade ties. Germany is India's biggest trade partner in the European Union with a bilateral trade of 13.4 billion euros in 2008. Germany is India's seventh largest investor cumulatively and India's second largest partner for technology collaborations globally. India and Germany cooperate well in various multilateral fora and have close consultations and engagements through institutionalized dialogue mechanisms in areas as diverse as energy, vocational education, urban infrastructure, health and strategic cooperation.