In order to put an end to the possibility of another German versus Hindi controversy, India and Germany will soon announce a joint declaration to promote each others’ language. The agreement is likely to be announced during German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to India next month, according to the new German Ambassador to India, Dr Martin Ney.
A day after taking over, the new German envoy said several areas of cooperation between the two sides are being worked out to give a fresh impetus to Indo-German relationship. Merkel will visit India next month for inter-governmental consultations but before that Foreign Secretaries of the two countries will be meeting on September 12 on the Indo-German High Technology Partnership. “The calendar for a strong India-German relationship is very dense,” Ney said.
Talking about the partnership in defence sector, the German Ambassador said that Airbus bidding to supply Euro Fighter aircrafts to the Indian Air Force was a thing of the past and that the group was now looking at offering other products in the civil aviation sector.
He added that the German companies would be interested in the deal for supply of six conventional submarines worth Rs50,000 crore to the Indian Navy. They will bid for the HDW Type 214 submarines under Project 75I which means it will be under ‘Make in India’ following a tie-up with Indian shipyard. “The tender process for the submarines is expected later this year and the German companies would be part of the bidding process,” Ney said, adding there was little chance of the matter being taken up at the Government-to-Government level talks.