Bremen ready for closer business and academic ties with India

The Mayor of Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Dr. Carsten Sieling, in a meeting with Ambassador Gurjit Singh conveyed his desire to continue close cooperation with India and particularly with Pune, with which Bremen has had a sister city relationship.

The exchanges took place prior to the annual meeting of the German Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV), a group of German businessmen interested in economic interaction with Asia for over a century. The annual dinner held in historic town hall was fully sold out. Ambassador Gurjit Singh had an occasion to meet with the President of the Bremen Assembly and the Minister for Economy during this time.

Ambassador Singh also met with the Indian community which is now over 400 strong, mainly consisting of professionals. There are nearly 400 Indian students now in Bremen as well. They discussed the various opportunities offered by India for the diaspora and the facilitation that the Embassy is providing both in economic, academic and other areas. The Indian community is coming together in a bigger way to celebrate Indian festivals and provide support to the increasing number of students in the area.

A group of students also met with Ambassador Gurjit Singh and briefed him on their doctoral and post-doctoral research work.

The Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune has benefitted from the sister city relationship with Bremen as the Bremen Museum has contributed to its restoration. Similarly, Bremen hosts the largest Mercedes plant in Germany while Pune is the host of Mercedes most modern CKD plant anywhere in the world. The Mayor of Bremen indicated that the City State was ready for renewed vigour being added to the engagement.

Figure 1: Ambassador Gurjit Singh and Mrs. Neeru Singh with the President of Jacobs University Katja Windt and Indian Students

Figure 2: Ambassador Gurjit Singh with the Mayor of Bremen Dr. Karsten Sieling