India-Germany Foreign Office Consultations was held on November 29, 2016 in Berlin

India-Germany Foreign Office Consultations was held on November 29, 2016 in Berlin. The Indian delegation led by Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar and the German side by State Secretary Dr. Markus Ederer, German Foreign Office reviewed all aspects of Indo-German bilateral relations. At the Consultations, they discussed the progress made on the decisions taken at the 3rd Inter-Governmental Consultations held in India in October 2015 at the level of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chancellor Angela Merkel. While expressing satisfaction on the robust economic and scientific cooperation between the two countries, they called for further deepening collaboration in defence and security fields including fighting terrorism.

Following the Foreign Office Consultations, the 3rd India-Germany High Technology Partnership Group (HTPG) meeting was held on November 30, 2016. Indian delegation for the meeting was led by Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar and the German side by Mr. Stephan Steinlein, State Secretary, German Foreign Office. In the meeting the two sides discussed cooperation in the areas of Export Controls, Defence, Space, Railways, Machine tools and Skill development. At the meeting, opportunities for German Government and Industry to partner India in its national programmes such as Make in India, Skill India, Start-Up India, modernization of Indian railways etc were presented. Foreign Secretary Jaishankar noted that Germany, given its proven technology leadership globally, was a partner of choice for India. Machine tools, another area of German expertise, was highlighted as a potential key area of bilateral cooperation in support of Make in India program. The two sides also agreed to further engage in skill development cooperation in India leveraging the presence of German Industry in the country and dedicated programmes of the Government of India in this field. Foreign Secretary thanked the German side for its support for India's membership of the MTCR and sought continued support for its membership of the NSG and other Export Control regimes. A workshop on Space cooperation was also held as part of the HTPG meeting where specific areas of future cooperation between ISRO and German Aerospace Centre [DLR] where identified.

Later in the day, Foreign Secretary met with Dr. Christoph Heusgen, Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to German Chancellor and discussed issues pertaining to India-Germany Strategic Partnership. They also exchanged views on global issues of common concern.

Foreign Secretary Jaishankar also met with Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Energy Mr. Uwe Beckmeyer and discussed potential areas of collaboration in the defence sector including present benefits to German companies to manufacture in India.

Dr. Jaishankar also spoke at the Berlin Policy Forum where he highlighted terrorism, Climate Change and present day anachronistic global governance structures including UN Security Council to be the leading security challenges facing the world as far as India was concerned.

November 30, 2016
Berlin