PRESS RELEASE

German SME leaders respond to Indian Initiatives

1. Dr Reinhold Festge, President of German industry association VDMA met Ambassador Gurjit Singh today and indicated the intention of their association to enhance engagement with India. VerbandDeutscherMaschinen und Anlagenbau (VDMA) is Germany's apex mechanical engineering industrial association representing over 3,100 mostly medium-sized companies in the capital goods industry, making it the largest industry association in Europe. VDMA has around 500 member companies which run operations in India. The President of VDMA, Dr Reinhold Festge accompanied by Dr Ulrich Ackermann, MD- Foreign Trade and Mr Oliver Wack from the Foreign Relations Division, VDMA would be visiting India from 19th - 23rd September 2016. The delegation would visit New Delhi and Pune. At New Delhi, they will hold high level meetings with Government representatives. This would be Dr. Festge's first visit to VDMA's Mechanical Engineering Summit meeting scheduled to be held in Pune on 23rd September 2016. This is a positive support to the 'Make in India' initiative.

2. During the interaction with the Ambassador, means of seeking convergence on various National schemes such as Make in India, Skill India were discussed. Ambassador assured Dr. Festge of the Indian Government's support for the facilitating the investments by VDMA member companies in India. VDMA's support for the Make in India initiative was also discussed in detail. Many VDMA members have already started manufacturing in India and their success stories will be brought to the wider attention of German SMEs.

3. Additionally, VDMA's involvement in the Make in India Mittlestand (MIIM) programme was also discussed at the meeting. MIIM is a market entry facilitation programme run by the Embassy of India, Berlin in order to ease entry of German Mittlestand companies (SMEs) into the Indian market. In this regard, VDMA and the Embassy sought to work out a mechanism for close cooperation under the MIIM initiative to support German Mittlestand companies who are also members of VDMA. Ambassador also presented Dr. Festge with a copy of 'India- Scripting Future Histories', a special booklet released by the Embassy of India, Berlin highlighting India's resurgence in various sectors of social  and economic development.

Ambassador Gurjit Singh presenting Dr. Reinhold Festge, President of VDMA with a copy of 'India - Scripting Future Histories'