The German Ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann, said earlier on Tuesday that Scholz’s journey to India for the Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) in the second part of October would be akin to a “German Mohotsav.”
According to the ambassador, Scholz is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi with a sizable entourage that includes seven or eight ministers.
“Basically, what we are going to have is a kind of a German Mohotsav,” Ackermann said in an interview with ANI. In fact, the Chancellor and seven or eight other ministers will be visiting Delhi for the intergovernmental meetings, which are scheduled for the end of October. Concurrently, there is the German business conference for the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, a number of very senior German CEOs will be visiting Delhi to talk about German commercial opportunities in Asia and India.”
In other words, October’s latter half will mostly feature German culture. Furthermore, I’m overjoyed to see so many diverse German components. We are excited as always, and India will be a fantastic host,” he said. The ambassador emphasized that India and Germany collaborate on defense, saying, “We have significantly improved our presence here when it comes to the military-strategic cooperation in India.”
Notably, Union defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his German colleague Boris Pistorius spoke over the phone and discussed the current defense cooperation activities, which included drills in the air and sea domains. The two leaders spoke on how to improve supply chain resilience and strengthen defense-industry cooperation.
The ministers discussed today in order to be ready for their bilateral meeting at the end of October within the framework of these international discussions, according to the German ambassador. Here in Delhi, the German Minister of Defense will meet with Raksha Mantri, and there’s little doubt that they’ll talk about a number of ongoing initiatives. I believe that there has been a rise in German military manufacturing sales and purchases in India, which is essentially consistent with the German government’s aim of working together for security.”
In February 2023, Scholz traveled to India as the head of a high-level business delegation that included CEOs of significant German corporations. Leading business executives from both sides of the border attended a business roundtable that was jointly addressed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A joint document between Germany and India titled “India-Germany Vision to Enhance Cooperation in Innovation and Technology” was released during the visit. In September of last year, Scholz was in New Delhi for the G20 conference, which was hosted by India.
As part of the Sixth Indo-German Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC), PM Modi traveled to Berlin in 2022. The two leaders of state agreed during their discussions that digital transformation is a major force behind changes in technology, the economy, and society. Modi and Scholz had also signed a Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) that established a Partnership for Green and Sustainable Development. Remarkably, India was also one of the first nations to establish diplomatic relations with Germany after WWII. In 2021, the two countries commemorated their diplomatic ties’ 70th anniversary.