Transcript of EAM’s press interaction along with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of Germany (September 03, 2025)

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:Namaste, Good Afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

I welcome you to this press conference by our distinguished guest, His Excellency Dr. Johann Wadephul, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany; and Honorable External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar.

As you are aware, translations are available in English and German. With that, first I invite Honorable External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar to make his opening remarks to the media.

Sir, the floor is yours.

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India:

Colleagues,

Friends from the Media,

We have just completed a very productive discussion on India-Germany cooperation, on our relationship with the European Union and we have exchanged views on regional, global and multilateral issues.

Now, before I come to those subjects, let me again first publicly welcome my Friend Foreign Minister Dr. Johann Wadephul who is here for the first time in his current capacity. I had the honour of being his guest this May and between May and now, we have actually been regularly in touch in this intervening period.

Now, I first got to know him when we met at the Munich Security Conference which was well before he became Foreign Minister. And I must say, even then, I was impressed by his commitment to advancing the India-Germany Strategic Partnership. I am very confident that that enthusiasm will now be applied by him fully in his new role.

During the day today, we have had detailed discussions on various aspects of our ties. This includes our political cooperation, security and defence, economic relations, research and future technologies, climate and energy as well as education, skilling, mobility and people-to-people exchanges. So let me share with you some key points which came out of today's discussion.

One, we greatly value the understanding that Germany has shown with regard to India's fight against terrorism. Minister Wadephul has himself been explicit about our right to defend our people against terrorist attacks. Our Parliamentary delegation that visited Germany in June after Operation Sindoor was also warmly received.

Two, there has been an uptick in our defence and security cooperation. Germany participated in the Tarang Shakti air exercises last year and its ships made port calls to Goa. Today, we agreed that such participation should be continued, indeed, even expanded. In the past, we have had significant export control difficulties in the defence and security domain. I would like to express my appreciation today for the smoothening of those processes and more expeditious clearances. We also spoke about greater industry collaboration between our two countries in this context.

Three, our two-way trade last year was almost Euro 50 billion. Minister Wadephul is on record, I saw one of his interviews, where he said that, he was very confident we will be doubling our trade. Let me assure him that India fully reciprocates that sentiment and looks forward to working with the German government. And last year, I recall, we had a very successful conference in Delhi of APK - the German Industry Association. And I want to reiterate that we remain fully committed to continuously improving the ease of doing business in this country. And I assured the Minister today that any concerns that German companies may have in India, coming to India, establishing themselves, working here, we would be prepared to give it special attention.

Four, in the semiconductor manufacturing area, that has actually emerged as a particularly promising domain. We welcome German investments and GCCs. Indian talent can make a significant contribution to Germany's own expanding capabilities here. I must say that the model of talent preparation and flow that Germany has evolved has been particularly effective. I would really commend our German colleagues for that, and we hope to see that scale up further.

Five, we have just marked 50 years of our scientific collaboration. Intensifying that and linking it to industry is the task that we have set for ourselves. Our cyber and digital dialogues are also important.

Minister Wadephul visited the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, and also ISRO, and I am very glad he did, because I think space cooperation has a lot of potential - and we again today agreed that it should be more aggressively explored.

Six, on climate and energy, we have been working for the last few years on what's called the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership. Now, some of you would be aware that projects under this have included the Nagpur Metro Rail, green energy corridors in five states and the integrated water transport project in Kochi. Our discussions today also covered green hydrogen, green energy financing and bio-fuels.

Seven, we have seen good progress in education and mobility. I believe that the largest number of foreign students in Germany are now from India. On my last two visits to that country, I heard praise for our community's contributions from across the political spectrum in Germany. The Skilled Labour Strategy released by the German government offers a very good framework for mutual benefit. We have also agreed on gratis Visas for short - term school and college visits to further promote student exchanges.

Eight, on consular issues, I should mention that I raised the issue of Ariha Shah, an Indian child who has been in foster care of German authorities for some time. I underlined to the Minister that it is essential that her cultural rights are ensured and she grows up in Indian surroundings. So this matter needs to be resolved without further delay, and I think we have had some discussions today on that subject.

Needless to say, we also did a review of the global situation, of regional issues, of multilateral that included the Ukraine conflict, West Asia/Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. These were very very useful and I must say I really appreciated Minister Wadephul's insights on many of these subjects.

So, let me conclude by stressing today that we see the world facing the twin challenges of economic volatility and political uncertainty. We believe that a multi-polar world with strategic autonomy can best respond through more intensive consultations and cooperation among key member states. It is in that spirit that I welcomed Minister Wadephul and his delegation today, and I must again thank him for a very open, constructive and positive approach to intensifying our Strategic Partnership.

Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:Thank you, Sir. May I now invite His Excellency Dr. Johann Wadephul, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, to give his remarks to the media.

Dr. Johann Wadephul, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany:

[Answer in German: Simultaneous Translation]: Thank you very much for this very cordial welcome with which you've greeted me.

It was a pleasure for me to come here. We've actually met in a very short period of time for the third time. And that is a sign of the close friendship we've been able to set up. Reliability, friendship, predictability are in times like these, in times of uncertainty, in times where we witness wars and conflicts of invaluable value in these times.

And I personally acknowledge and consider it a strong signal of friendship and cooperation of both our countries that we can engage in this spirit of trust and friendship, and that we can look back on a 25-year period of strategic cooperation between both our countries, and that we've been able to expand it at the personal level.

I share your analysis completely, 100%, that this partnership, you know, when you want to think about or consider strategic autonomy, about sovereignty in the area of economy, but also in the field of security policy, that this is of decisive importance. Of course, we have allies, we've got friends, and for Germany, India is one of them.

I had the pleasure today of, you know, play hockey for a few minutes with a team of pupils. I wasn't very successful, though, I hasten to end. But it is a team sport, you know, and I would like to make that point.

And I believe that India and Germany are playing in the same team. And that is something that I welcome, and think is good in these uncertain and turbulent times. And this is reflected in the fact that we look back on 50 years of science cooperation and 60 years since we signed the bilateral cultural agreement. And it is reflected in so many other areas.

We have the biannual intergovernmental conference. And we strengthen that team spirit. And I hope that we will also have the federal chancellor visit to India soon. Because we want to tackle the challenges both our countries are confronted with together, and to strengthen our cooperation.

As a rising economic powerhouse, and the most populous country, and biggest democracy in the world, India has a special importance in a world region that is of strategic importance. Our economies in particular have a lot to gain, I believe, if we are to further expand our cooperation.

I was in Bangalore yesterday, and I saw for myself what an innovative powerhouse and technology center India has become. In the area of AI and aerospace, but in other areas too, India wants to and will be at the forefront among the frontrunners in a whole host of areas. Today we talked about the potential for further enhancing our cooperation, be it in the area of strengthening cooperation in the field of aerospace and space, be it in the area of AI, where we both believe the need to set up norms, rules, and values.

With the EU AI Act, the EU has presented an important first building block in that regard. That India is going to host the next AI summit is a demonstration of India's ambition and claim to be in the vanguard and amongst the frontrunners in the area of new technologies too. With regard to bilateral trade, India and Germany are already playing in the Premier League. Germany with little under 31 billion euros of trade has India as its most important trading partner. As I said to my colleague, we aim to double that, and I'm pleased to see that India takes a similarly positive and optimistic view of the chances for that.

And this is why Germany strongly supports the EU-India Free Trade Agreement. And, we hope that this can be speedily negotiated so that it can be concluded before the end of this year, in autumn this year, and hopefully lead to a ratification process.

If others set up impediments to trade, we should respond by us lowering these impediments and hurdles. We believe that this fosters understanding amongst peoples and their prosperity. Today already we have more than 2,000 German companies that are active on the Indian subcontinent. And India is gaining increasing weight whenever we talk about diversifying supply chains, be it chemical products, pharmaceuticals, tech ties, electronics, or IT services.

The fact that I have with me a large business delegation is a demonstration of Germany's great interest in India's market. Now we also have to make sure that market access restrictions are being reduced in order to tap that enormous potential of enhanced economic relations.

We must, however, not lose sight of climate change as we strive to increase growth. Germany's contribution to India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative equals to 20 million euros, the aim being to make Pacific island states resilient to climate-induced loss and damage.

We both also agree that we want to create more opportunities for Indian skilled labor and students who aim to come to Germany. We have almost 60,000 Indian students in Germany, which makes them already today the largest group of international students in Germany. Many of them choose to stay, because we urgently need highly skilled and highly qualified labor. With our strategy on highly skilled labor from India, we already support the area of getting these talents to come to Germany. It's already now a genuine success story.

Indian skilled workers in Germany are successful in their jobs, earn above average income, and show above average integration. They are an asset for the German labor market. Today, the Visa Center in Bangalore has been issuing already 36,000 visas last year. It is for long-term stays, and the number is increasing. In 2024, almost a third of all student visas globally were issued in India. So as far as that is concerned, we are playing in the Champions League in the visa area.

But it is equally true that we want to enhance our performance through digitizing the processes and making them more efficient. In order to expand this success, though, we have also to improve and enhance the language training on offer. We are working with a good institute in expanding the infrastructure for German language tuition and language exams. But before, we want to promote German as a foreign language at the schools in India. Right now, we have 58 partner schools in India, and we aim to increase their number to 1,000 soon.

Ladies and gentlemen, but apart from touching on bilateral relations, we also spoke about international challenges. India and Germany are united by the objective to preserve the rules-based international order. And of course, that includes the freedom of maritime trade routes in the Indo-Pacific. China's increasingly aggressive behavior in the Indo-Pacific is cause for concern for both our countries.

More generally, we aim to further expand our cooperation in the areas of defense, security, and armaments. And we talked about this today, be that through common exercises of our forces or speeding up the granting of export licenses process for the Indo-Pacific engagement. Last year, German frigate made a port call in India. Germany stands ready to enhance this cooperation.

We also talked about the fact that security in the Indo-Pacific is closely linked to security in Europe. For us in Germany and Europe, Russia's war of aggression is right now, and remains right now the biggest challenge to our security policy. The fact that Prime Minister Modi, when he met with President Putin a couple of days ago, also pointed to the need of a speedy peace agreement in Ukraine has been important to us. We Europeans are doing our best, working with our American and Ukrainian friends, to ensure that this war ends soon and that Ukraine finds peace as a sovereign state.

I know that we don't always see 100 percent eye-to-eye with our Indian friends. And this is why I spoke out in favor today that India uses its relations with Russia to point to the need to make peace return to Europe. And I'm grateful for the open discussion we had yesterday. Peace is the basis for security, freedom, and prosperity.

Security anyway, generally speaking, is and will remain a challenge for the future. And we're pleased that in the vicinity of India, too, a ceasefire has come to a climb. I assured you, dear colleague, that when it comes to India defending itself against terrorism, Germany continues to be firmly at your side.

I look forward to our next exchange of views, probably on the fringes of the General Assembly of the United Nations as early as in three weeks in New York. So see you again soon. Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Thank you. We now open the floor for the questions. As you ask your questions, please do identify yourself and your organization.

Rezaul Laskar, Hindustan Times:Reza from the Hindustan Times. For the External Affairs Minister, I was just wondering the geopolitical changes that we are witnessing … does that spur the pace for a closer strategic and economic partnership with Europe and its constituents such as Germany?

And, you know, there are plans for India to work with Germany to bolster its submarine fleet. Did that come up in your conversation?

If I may, to the German foreign minister, you are here at a time when India and China are rebuilding their relations. And what does Germany think of that process? And given Germany's interest in the Indo-Pacific, do you view China more as a competitor or a rival?

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India:Well, I think definitely, there's no question that the changes we see in the world today do influence our policies and do influence the manner in which we approach other countries. So we are seeing, you know, very sweeping changes on the global strategic landscape. We're also seeing a lot of volatility on the global economic landscape.

And I think together, they make a very powerful case for India and the European Union; and India and Germany to work much more closely with each other. Because we do believe that, you know, there's plenty of space there, economic space, technology space … I would even say political, strategic, defense space there to be explored. So this is a relationship where there are considerable possibilities for fairly rapid growth.

Obviously, it won't happen by itself. Today, our conversation was mostly devoted to the bilateral part. You referred to the submarines. Obviously, that was not something we would discuss in detail. We are Foreign Ministers. That is something which is between the defense ministries. But we, for example, discussed the faster clearances and growing defense trade between India and Germany, which has really gone up quite significantly.

We discussed how to increase business. And there, it's not just between India and Germany. The minister was good enough to assure me that Germany would put its full weight behind the FTA negotiations with the European Union as well. So bottom line answer is yes. There are big changes underway in the world. Those changes make a very compelling case for a deeper, stronger, wider India-Germany relationship.

Dr. Johann Wadephul, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany:

[Answer in German: Simultaneous Translation]:I have a positive view of the development of Indo-Chinese relations. Nor was it up to me, nor I consider myself the person to pass judgment on this. This is a matter that pertains to the respective countries. And they are, of course, free to shape their relations as they desire. But we always welcome when two countries try to improve the understanding between themselves.

We agree with India and many other countries that we need to defend the international rules-based order, and that we also have to defend it against China. At least that is our clear analysis. And because you used those words, and you did so correctly, Germany, like the European Union, has a clear position regarding China.

For us, China is a partner in some areas. Think of climate protection. It is clear and obvious that we won't be able to address these issues and problems without China. We also view China as a competitor.We compete against China in a number of areas, sectors. Our business does. Our economy does. It's generally speaking not a problem. But we place value on having a fair competition, and equal rules. But we also see China as a systemic rival. We don't want that rivalry. We increasingly note that the number of areas is increasing where China has chosen this approach. We are sad about that.

Therefore, we have to respond in some of these areas. Amongst them are areas where we have to defend our markets against China. We are determined to continue to do so. At the same time, we always express our readiness to return to the partnership spirit.

Unidentified Speaker:Thank you. A question to Mr. Jaishankar, please. India is balancing multiple relations, China, Russia, the United States of America. So, how exactly does Germany fit into this balancing of strategic partnerships?

[Question in German]

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India:I thought we were quite easy, but he agreed. The fact is today … I'm now speaking from an Indian perspective … we have important strategic relationships with a number of countries, and it's in the nature of global politics or global strategy today that each one of these relationships would be maintained, and you would optimize them.

So, to me, both Germany in itself and Germany as the biggest country of the European Union, are obviously central to the calculations, and to the relationships that we have in the world. So, I mean, if you look at it by virtually any metric, whether it is economic, whether it is political, we were … among the other things we didn't get to mention here, except Johan did at the end of his remarks … we are two countries who are also, as part of the G4, trying to bring about a reform of the Security Council, and of the UN itself.

For us, this is an enormously important relationship. This relationship is growing in substance and I can see at this time of uncertainties that actually it has a greater value. It's a very steady relationship. It is a relationship where largely what we promise to each other, and policies that we have remain constant and remain predictable. Predictability today has a huge premium in global politics.

So, I do think that, you know, this relationship is actually only growing in its weight and its value and part of the reason why we have met so regularly, even in the last few months, and spoken to each other is because of that.

Dr. Johann Wadephul, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany:

[Answer in German: Simultaneous Translation]:

You've taken the words out of my mouth. So, basically, I'm repeating them in German now, saying what you said.

You could say, as I've tried to impress earlier, India equals Asia for us and Germany and the European Union, in a way, are equivalent for India. It is of immense importance, as has become obvious today during our talks, that India plays a very important part, and though we both have our own political positions and political priorities, but when it comes to democratic principles and regulatory steps, both our countries and both our markets tend to be very diligent and adhering to certain details. Sometimes we could make it easier for the other side to engage in the respective market and we've underlined that in our discussions today and I think we both have our homework to do in that regard.

When you look at the history of India, it is more than obvious that at the time when I was young and went to school and later studied at university, I got to know India as a non-aligned country. Of course, that has left its mark on this countr,y and distinguishes this country from Germany, which has always been a part of NATO, part of the Western world. During the Cold War, we were in confrontation with the then Soviet Union. And unfortunately, and I deplore that fact because we thought we'd overcome that, but we are back in a situation, we've not been able to overcome this … back in a situation where we have a confrontation between Russia and Europe because international law is being violated there. We find us again in this situation and India finds itself in a different situation.

So, that is a challenge to talk about these matters, or rather not to talk about these matters, but to always reach a perfect agreement on all of these issues. But that's obvious, that's what is to be expected and I don't think it's something bad because in so many other areas we totally agree and we have this reliability and predictability of the respective partner country, which plays such an enormous part and of which we know that this is a clear political stance of India to contribute to bringing about a process for peace in Ukraine as quickly as possible.

Again, here we see eye to eye, and I tried to convey that when I travelled here, but I totally agree with my colleague. This talk has not only been an easygoing talk, it has been also very fruitful and took place in a spirit of friendship, and I return to Germany much encouraged as a consequence.

Unidentified Speaker:Sir, I have two questions, both to the Foreign Minister of Germany and the foreign minister of India. Mr. Wadephul, my question to you is that on Russia-Ukraine conflict, do you support the idea of using tariffs as a tool on third countries to persuade or to pressure Russia and Ukraine to bring a ceasefire? And are you only … Germany and Europe, only working with Mr. Donald Trump-led ceasefire initiative, or you have come up with some new ideas to work with countries like India, with whom President Putin and President Zelenskyy both are keeping active contacts?

And to External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar, you know that I am sure you must have discussed the unreasonable, unjustified, unfair tariffs with the German foreign minister, but what assurance did you get from Germany and especially from the EU side to accommodate the Indian products and accommodate the Indian export? And as he rightly pointed out that if someone is putting unreasonable tariff and barriers, we should lower it down. So what concrete assurances did you get?

Unidentified Speaker:

[Question in German: Simultaneous Translation]: Both ministers, Minister Wadephul said that he had asked you to make use of your good services and offices to impress upon Russia that we need to see peace come about. What was your response? Will you play your part even more than you, will you engage even more?

[Unclear Audio]

Dr. Johann Wadephul, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany:

[Answer in German: Simultaneous Translation]:I'm happy to begin. In this conflict, we have right from the outset been pursuing a policy that has the objective of Russia and Ukraine following the path of negotiations. However, what we have noticed of late is that despite the enormous efforts that the American president has invested, Russia has not been willing to sit down at the negotiating table, whereas the Ukrainian president, President Zelenskyy, has expressed his immediate readiness to negotiate and sit down at the negotiating table.

In a way, it has taken a first step. We're talking about a country that has been attacked without it having done anything to trigger that attack. The only demand is that weapons fall silent, no more than that. And, I think that that is a reasonable precondition for people to engage in serious and genuine peace negotiations. As far as that is concerned, that is a clear German approach and European approach that we want to do whatever we can to make President Putin sit down at the negotiating table.

As far as Europe is concerned, this includes sanctions being imposed on Russia. We have not used tarrifs, but it was sanctions that we have imposed on Russia so as to ensure that Russia, which has to fund its war, will be less able to do so. As we took certain steps and measures, there have been several packages of sanctions that we've imposed. Amongst them, the so-called oil price cap, the purpose being that we want to withdraw the financial bases that Russia has that enables it to wage this war.

But at the same time, it has been of great importance to us to ensure that there are no bottlenecks when it comes to countries supplying itself with the energy that they need and that there are no unreasonable increases in prices. But the purpose has not been that Russia uses detours but manages to get its oil to us, and we therefore took appropriate measures to prevent that.

But the objective of our policies has been to bring about negotiations. Also, we've been targeted in our approach, targeting our steps to make it more difficult for Russia to fund its warfare. And the quicker we can get the parties to sit down at the negotiation table, the sooner the moment will come for us to lift these measures or adapt them.

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India:Regarding what we discussed between India and Europe; and India and Germany on economic issues, trade issues. Look, our conversations and our negotiations predate anything which has happened this year. It's something which has been going on for multiple years. And it's in our mutual interest that we lower tariffs and we find other ways of expanding our business and economic cooperation.

Obviously, in today's climate, those efforts acquire a greater urgency. I mean, that's quite apparent. But it is an ongoing conversation, and I share the minister's desire and, in a way, I would even say optimism that we would like now the FTA negotiations. We hope that another round takes place fairly soon. We would like this to move to a decisive conclusion in the coming days. And we believe that this would be in our mutual interest.

It will help stabilize the global economy. It will be a big factor there. It will be, a kind of, one of the elements of a ballast, which today the world economy really needs.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:Thank you, sir. With that, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the close of this press conference. We thank Honorable Ministers for their participation, and we thank all of you for your presence and participation as well.

Thank you very much.

New Delhi
September 03, 2025