Germany 'strongly' supports India-EU FTA by autumn: FM Johann Wadephul

Wadephul is on a two-day visit to India, which was planned earlier but comes on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's huddle with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi

Germany is keen on doubling the bilateral trade with India and the country also “strongly” supports speedy negotiation and sealing of the India-European Union (EU) free trade agreement (FTA) by autumn this year, its foreign minister Johann Wadephul said here on Wednesday.

 

Wadephul is on a two-day visit to India.

 

It comes against the backdrop of the US’ imposition of steep 50 per cent tariffs on India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s huddle with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

 

At a joint press briefing with his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, the German foreign minister said, “If others set up barriers to trade, we should respond by lowering these barriers and hurdles.”

 

 

Alluding to India’s ties with Russia, and its purchase of Russian oil, Wadephul said, “I know that we don’t 100 per cent see eye to eye with our Indian friends on this,” and urged New Delhi to use its relations with Moscow to convince Russia to have peace with Ukraine.

 

Wadephul sidestepped the question on the US' move to impose steep tariffs on New Delhi. 

 

The German foreign minister said his country backed Trump’s efforts to force Russia to come to a negotiating table, and spoke of the EU sanctions on Russia, which he specified were “targeted”, were “not tariffs”, and were intended to make it difficult for Russia to fund its warfare.

 

He, however, expressed concern at Moscow finding “detours”.

 

Meanwhile, in a reference to the US tariffs, Jaishankar said an India-EU FTA is in “our mutual interest”, that it will “help stabilise the global economy” and added, “It will be one of the elements of the ballast that today the world economy really needs.”

 

He said the two countries needed to lower tariffs and expand business and economic cooperation, “efforts” which in the current climate in international commerce “acquire a greater urgency.”

 

Jaishankar welcomed Germany’s intent to double bilateral trade from Euro 50 billion, and said the volatility on global economic and geopolitical landscape has made a “very compelling” case for India and Germany to expand ties.

 

Jaishankar said he shared Wadephul’s “desire and optimism” about an agreement.

 

“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,” Jaishankar said, adding that Wadephul has assured him that “Germany would put its full weight” behind the FTA negotiations with the EU.

 

The two foreign ministers underlined that policies need to remain constant and predictable, which Jaishankar said has a “huge premium in global politics”.

 

Wadephul said India equals Asia for Germany, just as Germany equals the EU for India, but flagged the need for the two countries to make it easier for each other in their respective markets, and that both needed to do “homework” in this regard.

 

“We need to make sure that market access restrictions are being reduced,” Wadephul said. In the morning, Wadephul met Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

 

Wadepaul, who also visited Bengaluru during his India visit, spoke about Germany “urgently” needing highly skilled workers, and India being one of the biggest sources of that with the German consulate in Bengaluru issuing 36,000 long-term visas last year.

 

He said there were 60,000 Indian students in Germany, the largest of any country, and spoke of his country’s intent to increase the number of partner schools in India teaching German as a foreign language from 58 to 1,000.

 

He said last year a third of international students issued visas by Germany were from India. 

 

Jaishankar and Wadephul also discussed bilateral political cooperation, ties in areas such as security and defence, economic relations, research and future technologies, climate and energy as well as education, skilling, mobility and people-to-people exchanges. 

 

 

Jaishankar said there has been an uptick in India-Germany defence and security cooperation, which the two ministers agreed should be expanded. India’s external affairs minister noted his appreciation for the smoothening of the processes and expeditious clearances in the export control processes in the defence and security domain, where India had faced significant difficulties earlier.

 

 

The two leaders also spoke about greater industry collaboration between the two countries in the context of defence ties.

 

 

Jaishankar assured Wadephul that “any concerns that German companies may have in India, coming to India, establishing themselves, working here, we would be prepared to give it special attention.”

 

 

In the semiconductor manufacturing area, India welcomes German investments and Global Capability Centres (GCCs), he said.

 

 

Jaishankar stressed that the world is facing the twin challenges of economic volatility and political uncertainty.

 

“We believe that a multi-polar world with strategic autonomy can best be responded to through more intensive consultations and cooperation among key member states,” he said.

 

 

The external affairs minister also said it was agreed to grant visas for short-term school and college visits to further promote student exchanges.

 

 

The German minister flagged his country’s concerns about the increasing Chinese aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific, which he said India shares.