External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Monday held wide-ranging talks focusing on ways to ramp up bilateral cooperation, especially in areas of energy, trade and climate change. Baerbock arrived here this morning on a two-day visit, four days after India formally took over the presidency of the G-20 grouping.
In a statement, Baerbock described India as Germany's "natural partner" and that the country will have a decisive influence in shaping the international order in the 21st century. "The Indian government has set itself ambitious goals not only in the G20 but also at home for its own people. When it comes to expanding renewable energies, India wants to push ahead with the energy transition more than before. Germany stands by India's side," she said.
"Because the dramatic effects of the climate crisis affect us all, destroying livelihoods in Europe as well as in India. That we want to strengthen our economic, climate and security policy cooperation with India beyond our strategic partnership, are not empty words," she added. Officials said bilateral cooperation in areas of energy, trade and climate change was a key focus of the agenda for talks between the two foreign ministers.
On Saturday, a German statement had said India's relationship with China and the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are set to figure in talks between Jaishankar and Baerbock. "In Baerbock's talks with her Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's relationship with China is likely to be discussed in addition to the Russian war against Ukraine and its consequences, for example in the energy sector," it said. The ties between India and Germany are on an upswing in the last few years.
Ways to expand bilateral economic engagement and defence collaboration figured prominently in a meeting last month between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Bali. In May, Modi visited Berlin for the sixth India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC). It was followed by his visit to Schloss Elmau in Germany for the G7 Summit at Chancellor Scholz's invitation.
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