India, Germany to Focus on Growing Defence, Trade Relations

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and his Indian counter part S.M. Krishna will hold wide ranging talks focusing on defence, trade and United Nations reforms. The German Foreign Minister arrives in New Delhi on 18th October 2010.

• The two sides are also likely to impart fresh impetus to trade ties and hold discussion for expansion of defence cooperation
• Senior External Ministry official was quoted saying "there is room for improvement" and that India is interested in acquisition of equipment as well as transfer of technology
• India and Germany have been recently elected as non-permanent members in UN for two years till 2012 and both countries have strong cases for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council
• Germany is the largest trading partner of India in Europe -- bilateral trade crossed nearly 13 billion Euros in 2009
• First five months of 2010 have shown an increase of 26 per cent compared to 2009 -- both countries are well on the way of targeted trade worth 20 billion Euros by 2012
• "Counter-terrorism and working jointly to deal with threat of terrorism is very much part of our strategic cooperation and could take many forms-- whether it was real time information sharing or close interaction of agencies handling such issues," said the senior official (India Defense