751-Sabar Institute Of Management, Tajpur - Gujarat Technological ...

Part-3: Indo-German Relations
The framework for bilateral relations between Germany and India has been delineated in the
Agenda for German- Indian Partnership in the 21st Century, which was adopted by the foreign
ministers of the two countries in May 2000. This agreement was meant to give a structure to the
deepening relations between the two nations that unfolded in the last decade of the 20th century.
While focusing on economic, cultural, and scientific cooperation, the agenda also stipulated new
fields of cooperation to address global challenges and work towards the mutual fulfillment of
each other’s interests. The ten-point agreement became the origin and point of reference of all
future agreements between India and Germany. In order to assess the merits and achievements in
Indo-German relations over the past years, one should first look at the expectations and goals
which were originally formulated by the agreement of 2000, and the following joint declarations
between India and Germany in 2006 and 2007. The first point on the agenda dealt with the
improvement of bilateral political relations between the two countries by expanding meetings
and dialogue between officials of both nations. The governments concluded that the exchange of
visits between high-level officials was crucial to maintain and deepen the good relationship
between India and Germany. Meetings of foreign ministers on an annual basis were stipulated,
and beyond that, consultations between officials at various levels were sought to be extended.
Also, both governments wanted to encourage dialogue between nongovernmental actors of the
two countries. Surprisingly, the second point on the agenda did not relate to economic and trade
relations, but dealt with issues of security policy and disarmament. By giving high priority to this
subject, a first clear step in shifting the focus of relations towards a deeper strategic partnership
was made. Both governments declared their commitment to worldwide disarmament and to nonproliferation,
but recognized that there existed different opinions on how to achieve these goals.
Consultations on this matter should address nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament concerns
more often to achieve convergence between the different positions of both countries. India and
Germany stipulated to engage in confidence-building and conflict prevention and include
research institutes from both sides in the dialogue on security and strategy cooperation. With
regard to economic relations, both sides declared their commitment to further deepen and
strengthen the economic ties between India and Germany by opening markets, simplifying
procedures, and overcoming judicial and administrative barriers of bilateral trade.
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