00:00So it has been a privilege for us to receive the delegation led by Sri Ravi Shankar Prasad
00:06and we've had a number of meetings today.
00:09He met in the morning the Vice President of the Bundestag, Mr. Omar Nuripour.
00:14Then he met a group of MPs, including Armin Laschet, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee,
00:21Ralph Brinkhaus, who has been the Chairman of the India-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group,
00:27Mr. Hubertus Heil, the former Minister of Labour.
00:30And then later we had a meeting with the Foreign Minister, Johan Wadeful.
00:35Now in all these meetings your senior representatives reiterated their support for India's fight against terrorism
00:46and they expressed solidarity.
00:49Your Foreign Minister has earlier said that India has the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks.
00:57And in fact Mr. Nuripour went on to say that no country has suffered as much from terrorism as India has
01:05and that he had been to India on numerous occasions.
01:08So later in the afternoon we had a luncheon interaction with several members of Parliament.
01:14So basically to sum up I would say that Germany has come out very strongly in terms of endorsing India's position
01:23on the fight against terrorism.
01:26And we are deeply grateful for the solidarity that has been shown by German political leaders across the political mainstream
01:35because we met representatives and members of Parliament from different political parties.
01:40You are being the Indian Ambassador in Germany.
01:44How do you view the relationship between the two countries and how would you like to take it forward?
01:49Well Germany and India are democracies. We share common values. Germany is our valued and trusted partner.
01:59Our trade and investment relationship with Germany is very strong.
02:04And it should be noted that India-Germany bilateral trade has exceeded 50 billion US dollars.
02:10And this is more than 25% of India's trade with the EU.
02:15Now this year we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the strategic partnership with Germany which was established in 2000.
02:22We have regular format of consultations at the highest level, the intergovernmental consultations.
02:28And there are many mechanisms in place.
02:30We are seeking to develop the multifaceted strategic partnership and explore new areas of cooperation.
02:37And very shortly after the new government was sworn in headed by Chancellor Merz,
02:42Chancellor Merz, our External Affairs Minister paid a visit to Germany from 22nd to 24th of May just a few days back.
02:50And again it was a very successful visit.
02:53We have regular format of consultations at the highest level, the intergovernmental consultations.
02:58And there are many mechanisms in place.
03:01We are seeking to develop the multifaceted strategic partnership and explore new areas of cooperation.
03:08And very shortly after the new government was sworn in headed by Chancellor Merz,
03:13our External Affairs Minister paid a visit to Germany from 22nd to 24th of May just a few days back.
03:20And again it was a very successful visit.
03:22To Europe, Canada could be sent to France.
03:23We are looking for the mens
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