Jaishankar meets German diplomat; focus on Scholz's October visit to India

Bagger is on a visit to India, primarily to prepare grounds for Scholz's planned trip to New Delhi around October, people familiar with the matter said.

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday held talks with Germany's state secretary of foreign office Thomas Bagger with a focus on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to India in October.

Bagger also met NSA Ajit Doval and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, and co-chaired foreign office consultations with foreign secretary Vikram Misri.

The German state secretary is currently on a visit to India, primarily to prepare grounds for Scholz's planned trip in October to attend the seventh India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC).

"Good to meet Dr. Thomas Bagger, State Secretary in German Federal Foreign Office. Noted the progress made in the India-Germany strategic partnership," Jaishankar said on 'X'.

"Look forward to a productive meeting of the 7th Inter Governmental Consultations later this year," he said.

At the foreign office consultations, both sides undertook a comprehensive review of the entire gamut of India-Germany bilateral relations including in areas of trade, investment, defence, development cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

It said Misri and Bagger also held in-depth discussions and exchanged perspectives on key issues of regional and global importance.

"The discussions provided an opportunity for both sides to take stock of the current status of bilateral relations and explore avenues for further deepening the India-Germany strategic partnership, especially in light of the upcoming seventh India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations to be chaired at the level of leaders of the two countries, which are scheduled to be held in New Delhi in October," the ministry said in a statement.

It said both sides also welcomed the forthcoming Asia-Pacific Conference of German Businesses scheduled to be held in New Delhi around the IGC and expressed hope that it will lead to further intensification of business-to-business collaboration.

"Both sides expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the consultations today and agreed to continue to work towards the success of the upcoming Inter-Governmental Consultations," the MEA said.