india

Updated: Oct 26, 2019 00:50 IST

Measures to boost trade and investment and cooperation in new areas such as artificial intelligence are expected to be on the agenda during German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on November 1.

Merkel will arrive in India on October 31 for the day-long visit at Modi’s invitation. She will be accompanied by several ministers and state secretaries of the German government and a high-level business delegation. The two leaders will jointly chair the fifth biennial inter-governmental consultations.

The two Leaders will also have a separate engagement with CEOs and business leaders of both sides. Merkel will also meet President Ram Nath Kovind.

As part of the inter-governmental consultations, Indian ministers and their German counterparts will hold initial discussions in their respective areas, and the outcome of these talks will be reported on at the meet co-chaired by Modi and Merkel.

During the consultations, the two sides will discuss ways to deepen cooperation in traditional sectors such as transport, skill development and energy, and explore possibilities for working together in new areas such as artificial intelligence and green urban mobility, the external affairs ministry said on Friday.

Other issues that are expected to be on the agenda are defence and security, renewable energy, and water and waste management. Regional and global matters, including the situation in Afghanistan, are also expected to figure in the discussions between the two leaders, people familiar with developments said.

India and Germany have a strategic partnership characterised by a high degree of trust and mutual understanding, and Modi and Merkel have interacted on the margins of several multilateral meetings, including the G20 Summit in the Japanese city of Osaka in June.

Merkel visited India in 2007, 2011 and 2015. Modi made his first official visit to Germany in 2015 and he also visited the country twice in 2017, including for the fourth inter-governmental consultations, and again in April 2018.

Germany has consistently supported India’s bid for membership of multilateral export control regimes, and the two sides have similar concerns on terrorism. Germany is also India’s largest trading partner in Europe and bilateral trade was worth $21.98 billion in 2017-18.

Germany is also the 7th largest foreign direct investor in India, with investments of $10.99 billion during 2000-2018.