India, Germany hold Foreign Office consultations in Delhi

The India-Germany Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) were held in New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Several issues of regional and global importance were discussed during the talks.

The FOC was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, and Dr Thomas Bagger, State Secretary of the German Foreign Office on July 15. During the visit, Bagger also called on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and met with Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane.

During the FOC, both sides undertook a comprehensive review of the entire gamut of India-Germany bilateral relations encompassing key areas of bilateral cooperation including trade, investment, science and technology, defence, development cooperation and academic and people-to-people exchanges.

"They agreed to further deepen and diversify bilateral ties in key areas of contemporary relevance, such as emerging technologies, digital platforms, renewable energy, green economy and extending development cooperation to third countries," the MEA said in an official press release.

The co-chairs also held in-depth discussions and exchanged perspectives on key issues of regional and global importance.

Moreover, 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 7th India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) scheduled to be held in New Delhi and to be chaired at the level of Leaders of the two countries.

"The Co-chairs also welcomed the forthcoming Asia-Pacific Conference of German Businesses (APK) scheduled to be held in New Delhi around the IGC and expressed hope that it will lead to further intensification of bilateral business-to-business collaboration," the release read.

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.

(ANI)