Germany’s Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck emphasised the urgent need to rebalance the country’s trade policies at the 18th Asia Pacific Conference of German Business in New Delhi, saying that Germany must reduce its dependence on major partners like China and Russia, citing the current complex global situation.
Habeck noted that Germany’s economic success story needs to be recalibrated and this can be achieved by diversifying trade policies, finding new partners, and strengthening existing partnerships.
In fact, Germany has become heavily reliant on China, its largest trading partner, but geopolitical tensions and rising skepticism are making it essential to explore alternative partnerships, Habeck said highlighting India’s critical role in this context and describing it as one of Germany’s most important partners globally.
To achieve this diversification, Germany is looking to deepen its partnerships with like-minded countries that share common values, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.
He noted that rising scepticism and geopolitical tensions have made it necessary for Germany to diversify trade relations.
Habeck highlighted India’s crucial role as a partner in navigating these economic shifts, stating, “India is one of the most important partners here in this region, but also in the world. India is one of the most important partner in the region and the world. We cannot, we cannot, not to have an EU FTA Free Trade Agreement. For this reason, there’s a great deal of willingness for myself.” He also pitched for Germany as an investment destination.
“Now, we may talk about investment in India and in the Asia Pacific region, but if you like to invest in Germany, the single market is one of the big advantages,” he added.Habeck said that Germany took the benefit of globalisation in trade but now it has to adopt with the changing global situation.
“Germany took a benefit of globalization, especially by trading and energy, buying energy from Russia and trading with China, to be honest, and that is a huge advantage. We took advantage of and now you see the problem. The global situation is even more complex as we are trading with China.”
The German Cabinet recently adopted a key document – “Focus on India” – for which all the ministries and departments came together and agreed on how to “elevate” the bilateral relations to the “next level”, the country’s envoy had also said.
The India-Germany relationship is based on “tremendous amount” of trust, friendship and shared responsibility, bringing both countries forward as well as making contribution to the world, and the visit of Chancellor Scholz is in line with it, Uwe Gehlen, head of development cooperation at the German Embassy in India, told PTI in September.
With inputs from agencies.
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Germany’s Habeck calls India key ally in shift from China, Russia at Asia-Pacific summit
