NEW DELHI: The German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, underlined on Feb.19 his country’s desire to strengthen economic and commercial ties with India.
In a morning of discussions with Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and senior government officials on the first day of his four day visit here, Kohl expressed his conviction that despite the difficulties that may have arisen, the process of economic liberalization undertaken by India was irreversible.
The reforms, he said, had greatly improved prospects for German investment in India and assured the Indian side that his government would do all it can to encourage German businessmen to look at the Indian market more favorably.
Kohl welcomed the investments made by Indian entrepreneurs in the former East Germany, saying that this would help to balance the bilateral economic relationship. Rao and Kohl first met with their respective delegations which on the Indian side consisted of senior officials from the external affairs, finance, defence, water resources, and telecommunications, commerce and industries ministries.
This was followed by private talks between the two leaders which lasted for 75 minutes, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman told correspondents.
Later at a banquet hosted in his honor, Dr.Kohl expressed the hope that the ratification of the NPT by India and the control regime which was part of it would be “beneficial to Indo German economic and technical cooperation.”
“We are prepared to conduct a comprehensive dialogue with India on aspects of nonproliferation,” he said.
Responding to the visiting German Chancellor, Dr.Helmut Kohl’s suggestion, India agreed to open a bilateral dialogue on arms control, security issues and disarmament.
Describing India’s internal political stability 10 is of special importance for peace and security in South Asia, Dr.Kohl, in an apparent reference to Ayodhya developments, expressed the hope that India would succeed in defending its ideal of secularism against “those who attempt to depart from this road.”
After his talks with Rao, Kohl called on the President, Shankar Dayal Sharma, and the Vice President, K.R.Narayanan. In the afternoon, he was presented with the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding for the year 1990.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 26, 1993
