New Delhi, October 25
Visiting Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany Robert Habeck, highlighted the need for recalibrating Germany's trade policies, emphasizing diversification away from dependency on major partners like China and Russia, at the 18th Asia Pacific Conference of German Business on Friday in New Delhi.
Habeck said, "We are in a very, very complex situation, and we have to reshape, recalibrate our economic success story in these days. Diversify our trade politics, finding new partners, deepening our partnerships, that is of highest political importance, political and economic importance for Germany right now."
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."
He added "China is our biggest trading partner, together with us, and you see that you as a China are not on equal terms, becoming More sceptical to each other by the day, and Germany and Europe are standing in the middle."
Roland Busch, Chairman of the Asia Pacific Committee of German Business and CEO of Siemens, echoed Habeck's sentiments, stating "It first starts with energy infrastructure. Then comes manufacturing, and finally, things like higher education or the healthcare sector. In recent years, in India and throughout the ASEAN region, there have been investments in energy and infrastructure."
He added, "Now the focus is on expanding manufacturing, adding more local value. This is very important, because emerging market countries need to continuously create more and high quality jobs. We should focus on building necessary ecosystems, local ecosystems to foster growth in high end manufacturing, sustainable process industries, semiconductor industry, EOP the healthcare sector and the kind of green technologies."