Indian Council of World Affairs

The fourth Indo-German 1.5 Track Strategic Dialogue was held in Berlin, Germany on 20 November 2024. The 2+2 Policy Dialogue saw the participation of Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) on the Indian side and German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) and German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) on the German side.The dialogue focused on the current state of bilateral relations between India and Germany and analyzedthe opportunitiesas well as challenges to the further strengthening of the partnership. 

In the inaugural session, remarks were made by Dr. Stefan Mair-Director, SWP; Amb. Gurjit Singh- former Ambassador of India to Germany; Amb. Amar Sinha-former Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs of India. It was noted that despite the ongoing churn in the world order, India-Germany relations have continued to flourish which is a positive signal for the future of their partnership. It was added that the growing cooperation between India and Germany reflects their similar outlook towardsmultipolarity. The qualitative as well as quantitative growth in trade relations between the two countries was also appreciated. 

To set the backdrop for the Dialogue, Amb. AjitVinayakGupte-Ambassador of India to Germanyand Amb. Erik Kurzweil-Director for Indo-Pacific Policy, South Asia and Afghanistan, Federal Foreign Office, Germany provided an overview of the current state of Indo-German Relations and the efforts to further strengthen them. The recent visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to India in October 2024 was commended and it was noted that there is a greater mutual political will to upgrade the bilateral ties further. The signing of migration and mobility agreement in 2022 between Germany and India was appreciated for the mutual will that it reflected to structure and streamline mobility processes. The growing role of Indian Diaspora and the increasing number of Indian students in Germany was welcomed. 

The first session focused on the theme of Cooperation in the Indo-Pacificand was chaired by Amb. Amar Sinha- former Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, India. Speakers in the session included Dr. Pankaj Vashisht- Associate Professor, RIS; Prof. Patrick Köllner- Director, GIGA; Dr. Himani Pant- Research Fellow, ICWA; Dr. Christian Wagner- Senior Fellow, SWP. It was emphasized that there is a growing convergence of interests between India and Germany as both countries share commonalities on ensuring a multilateral and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. It was also noted that there is scope for triangular cooperation between India and Germanyin third countries such as in Latin America, which in turn would give a new momentum to bilateral relations. Furthermore, it was observed that increasedIndo-German cooperation in the region could make significant contributions towards building resilient supply chains. 

The second session focused on the theme of Global and Trade Cooperationand was chaired by Dr. Johannes Plagemann- Senior Research Fellow, GIGA. Speakers in the session included Dr. HannsGüntherHilpert- Senior Fellow, SWP; Prof. Dr. GulshanSachdeva-Professor, Centre for European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. SangeetaMahapatra- Research Fellow, GIGA and Dr. Sneha Sinha-Consultant, RIS. The importance of India’s growing market potential for Europe as well as EU’s market access for India were highlighted in the session. The need to speed up the finalization of EU-India FTA in a manner that is comfortable to both sides and Germany’s support for India’s case was reiterated in the session. 

The third session focused on the theme of Climate and Tech Cooperation and was chaired by Amb. Gurjit Singh. Speakers in the session included Prof. RajatKathuria- Dean-School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University; Dr. Priyadarshi Dash- Associate Professor, RIS; Dr Tobias Scholz-Researcher, SWP and Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen- Lead Research Fellow, GIGA. It was noted that the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership between India and Germany is important. Furthermore, it was reiterated that the recently concluded Indo-German Green Hydrogen Roadmap would encourage private sector investment, promote green hydrogen trade and export, and facilitate the exchange of information between the two countries. India’s successful experience with fintech and scope for cooperation with Germany was also highlighted in the session. 

The closing remarks were delivered by Amb. Gurjit Singh (ICWA); Amb. Amar Sinha (RIS); Dr. Christian Wagner (SWP) and Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner (GIGA)

*****