It High On Agenda Of Fischer Visit

Business, especially information technology will be the high point of the visit of German foreign minister Joschka Fischer, on May 16.

As many as 20,000 German Green Cards will be available to Indian IT specialists after August 1, 2000. This is one of the issues Fischer will discuss with foreign minister Jaswant Singh during his one-and-a-half day visit to India.

Accompanying Fischer is a group of 20 businessmen, from German SMEs. Fischer will also go to Bangalore where he will meet IT giant Azim Premji.

Fischer's trip is the first high level trip from Germany to India after India's nuclear tests in May 1998. President KR Narayanan did visit Germany in 1998, but the Prime Minister's trip last year had to be cancelled for logistical reasons.

 

Germany has been conducting a strategic dialogue with India after the nuclear tests, conducted by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra. But the nuclear tests have taken their toll on economic relations between the two countries.

While investments nearly tripled during the first phase of India's economic reforms from 1991 to 1995, in the second phase, it have been stagnating. In 1998, investments decreased by 53 per cent.