Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will reach Germany this evening on a three-day state visit. The Prime Minister will chair the second round of Inter governmental consultations with Germany in Berlin tomorrow.
The Prime Minister is accompanied by the External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Minister for Science and Technology, Jaipal Reddy, New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah and Human Resource Development Minister Pallam Raju.
In his departure statement before leaving for Berlin, the Prime Minister said, he will seek German Chancellor Angela Merkel's support for an early conclusion of a balanced India-EU broad based trade and investment agreement.
Talking to AIR correspondent Suprasanthi Devi, India's ambassador to Germany Sujata Singh said the Prime minister will hold bilateral talks with Chancellor Merkel on a whole range of issues with an aim to reinforce the strategic relationship between the two countries.
During the Prime Minister's visit, India and Germany will sign agreements in several key areas including education, science and technology and renewable energy.
The agreement relating to renewable energy aims at India having collaboration with Germany in setting up power grids for renewable energy in the country.
Our correspondent reports that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit is expected to take Indo-Ggerman relations to a higher level with both countries determined to take forward the collabration in various sectors.
In fact, India is the first country in Asia, besides Israel, and the only country outside Europe to have Intergovernmental Consultations with Germany.
India’s negotiations with the European Union on a Free Trade Agreement which are at a crucial stage now will come up for discussion during the bilateral talks.
India is keen to complete this agreement at the earliest with an aim to attract foreign investors and in turn to boost the economy. It expects Germany to extend its support for early conclusion of this agreement.
During the visit, the Prime Minister will bring to a close ‘Days of India in Germany”- a series of events being organised in Germany since last year to highlight India’s rapid strides in various sectors. He will also interact with the Indian community at a meeting to be held tomorrow evening.
