In bid for deeper ties, Germany’s Scholz to visit India with defence, economy on mind

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will embark on a three-day visit to India from Thursday to hold talks on defence and economic ties which are likely to deepen engagement between the two countries over the strategic Indo-Pacific region.

Scholz, who succeeded Angela Merkel as chancellor in December 2021, has consistently signalled his intent to forge ties with New Delhi against the backdrop of the West’s China plus-one strategy on trade and amid geopolitical tensions.

The German chancellor visited India twice last year, once for a bilateral state visit in February and the second time to attend a G20 leaders’ summit in Delhi in September. His latest trip comes at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a statement by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

“I think what is happening is certainly a German reassessment of India. For so long, India was not really on their radar, but Germany is trying to transform its relationship with India into a strategic one and nudge the European Union [EU] in that direction as well,” said Harsh Pant, an international-relations professor at King’s College London.

Germany is India’s largest trading partner in the EU and is also one of its key trading partners worldwide. In the financial year ended March 2023, India’s bilateral trade with Germany stood at US$26 billion while the number of German companies in the country was at 2,000 as of July last year, said the India Brand Equity Foundation.

Military ties between India and Germany have been minimal in the past, but last year’s visit by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius marked a turning point as German and Indian companies signed a pact that aims to build six advanced stealth diesel-electric submarines.