German Chancellor Angela Merkel, after undertaking her longest overseas trip to date, arrived in India with her entourage including some of Germany’s top executives, scientists and politicians by the two Airbus planes on Monday. This is being said that the scale of her visit is a bit surprising at this point of time.

During her visit, Merkel is expected to focus her talks with India on security and trade issues. Her visit to India is the clear indication that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, now aims to strengthen bilateral ties with India, the second fastest growing economy in the world.

According to Indian data, India is emerging as an important market for Germany because the bilateral trade between both the countries has increased about 40 percent last year to 10 billion $14.4 billion.

Foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna had told media persons before Merkel’s arrival in India that political cooperation between the two countries has also been developed at significant level in the issues of UN reform and fight against terrorism.

The reports said that Merkel’s advisers have told the Chancellor to talk about global warming with Indian leaders. Earlier, India had indicated that it would not compromise its economic growth by blindly taking the recommendations on limiting on greenhouse gas emissions.

Merkel is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss on scientific and defence cooperation, and on intellectual property rights as well. She would also meet President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, and the leader of the opposition Lal Krishna Advani.also.

Before arriving in India, Merkel had told her party members that Germany had long ignored to focus on India. Now, this is the right time to expand bilateral ties with the Indian subcontinent. Merkel, who is also a champion of human rights issues, would also discuss poverty, inequality and India’s notorious caste system during her visit.

On Tuesday, Merkel and Manmohan Singh inaugurated the ‘Science Express’ train to travel across India for a year just to highlight Indo-German cooperation in science and technology. Both the countries have agreed to create an Indo-German Science and Technology Research Center to facilitate cooperation in industrial and basic research field. Both the countries will also sign an MoU on energy efficiency and renewable energy with Germany committing 150 million Euros to India.

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