New Delhi
28 May 2007
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee will hold a bilateral
meeting with his German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Thursday. He
will also participate in the ministerial-level meeting between India and the European
Union Troika on that day.
The spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi has said that India's
relations with Germany, with which she has a strategic partnership, was substantive and
high-level visits from Germany were on the anvil.
Sources told this newspaper that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to visit
India. German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung also will travel to India soon. German
Foreign Minister Steinmeier intends to make another important foreign and security
policy topic of energy security, the subject of a conference of the G-8 foreign ministers
with Mr Mukherjee and the foreign ministers of Brazil, Mexico, China and South Africa in
December.
At the India-EU Troika meeting, the EU will be represented by German Foreign Minister
Steinmeier, Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Filipe Marques Amado and Secretary
General and High Representative of the European Council for Common Foreign and
Security Policy Javier Solana. The director-general of the external department of the
European Commission also will participate in it. Germany currently holds the EU
presidency. Portugal will be the next EU president.
The spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs ha said that the India-EU Troika
meeting would enable both sides to take stock of the development of the India-EU
strategic partnership and preparations for the India-EU Summit later this year in India. It
will also permit both sides to exchange views on regional and international issues of
mutual interest, including issues such as developments in the EU, SAARC, West Asia,
Afghanistan, energy security, climate change and counter terrorism.
Mr Mukherjee, who reached Germany from Libya, had an hour-long meeting with Libyan
leader Col Muammer Al Gaddafi at his camp near the coastal town of Sirte on Sunday.
They discussed bilateral cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the oil
and petroleum sectors as well as human resource development.
Mr Mukherjee expressed India's desire to establish joint projects in the field of IT and
invited Libyan students to India for attaining education. After a two-day visit to Cyprus,
Libya is the second stop for Mukherjee, who is on a four-nation tour.
The two leaders discussed the need for reform in the United Nations, including the UN
Security Council structure. Col Gaddafi reiterated that India has a right to have a
permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Mr Mukherjee handed over a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inviting Col
Gaddafi to visit India. Praising the bilateral ties between Libya and India, Col Gaddafi
said, "Sky is the limit for cooperation between the two countries".
Earlier, Mr Mukherjee also met Libya's Secretary of the Administrative Committee of
National Oil Corporation. He said that Indian companies were ready to participate in the
drilling and oil exploration projects in Libya.
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