Trade, anti-terror, UNSC on agenda for Singh-Merkel meet

G Sudhakar Nair
Berlin, Dec 11 (PTI) Trade, UNSC reforms and
anti-terrorism strategies will be high on the agenda when
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel hold their summit meeting against the backdrop
of the two countries getting elected as non-permanent members
in the United Nations Security Council.
Singh flew in here from Brussels Saturday after
attending the India-European Union summit for a working visit
to Germany at the invitation of Merkel.
Singh's talks with Merkel later in the day are
expected to further enhance bilateral strategic partnership at
a time when the ties between the two countries are marked by
rapidly growing economic and trade ties.
Germany is India's largest trading partner in the
27-nation European Union with bilateral trade growing in the
recent years to reach 13.4 billion Euros in 2008.
Bilateral trade decreased marginally to 13.09 billion
Euro but has revived and is growing by over 15 per cent and
has reached 9.80 billion Euro during January-August 2010.
Ahead of the talks, Prime Minister Singh said India's
engagement with Germany is strong and multi-faceted.
Singh said he was looking forward to reviewing with
Chancellor Merkel the developments in bilateral cooperation in
the areas of high technology, trade, investment, energy and
education.
India and Germany will serve together on the UN
Security Council as non-permanent members for a two-year
period from January one, 2011.
Singh and Merkel will also review the major regional
and global issues including the situation in Afghanistan and
climate change as well as the state of the global economy and
the role of the G-20 in the recovery process.
Germany is also expected to take the line adopted by
the EU at its summit with India Friday in Brussels on the
need for Pakistan to act expeditiously to bring to justice the
perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack.
The EU while denouncing terrorism wanted terror camps
to be closed wherever they exist.
Earlier, Germany had said Pakistan is "not doing
enough" to combat terrorism, noting that the situation in that
country is an issue of "central concern" to it.
German Ambassador to India Thomas Matussek had said
the internal situation in Pakistan is "unstable."
Matussek had said it would in the interest of the
international community if the Pakistan security apparatus
"chase out" al-Qaeda and other terror elements from the
country.
"If Pakistan goes down...it will affect countries like
India," he had said, adding efforts should be made to
strengthen the democratic legitimacy of civilian rule.

"The situation in Pakistan is an issue of central
concern to us. The internal situation in Pakistan is unstable.
Pakistan is not doing enough to combat terrorism," Matussek
said.
Matussek's comments had came against the backdrop of
American and European officials having recently detected a
plot to carry out a major, coordinated series of
commando-style terror attacks in Britain, France, Germany and
possibly the US.
The new threat to France, Germany, Britain and to the
US is coming from Pakistan, according to western intelligence
officials. Several teams of attackers, all with European
passports, had been reportedly trained and dispatched from
training camps in Pakistan.
Replying to questions, Matusset said the security and
stability of Afghanistan is directly linked to Germany's own
security. In Matusset's view, the Pakistan Army cannot play
any role to bring stability in Afghanistan.
Matusset also made a strong pitch for India and the
EU to evolve joint strategies to fight terrorism.
Germany had also backed India's bid to gain membership
of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG), applauding this
country's "excellent" non-proliferation track record.
"We will give support for India for its NSG
membership...even without India not becoming a NPT signatory.
We value India's commitment to non-proliferation. We
appreciate its track record despite not being a party to NPT."
Mattusek said Germany would like India to ensure that
the Civil Nuclear Liability bill and its implementation rules
will address the "legitimate concerns" of the foreign
suppliers of atomic equipment.
Germany can supply turbine equipment and nuclear safety
technology to India, he said.
Mattusek made a strong pitch for selling Eurofighter
Typhoon combat jets to India, saying it is also ready to
forego the End-User Monitoring Agreement and offer complete
transfer of technology. Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy have
come together to pitch for the Typhoon.
India plans to buy 126 fighter aircraft under the
Indian Air Force's multi-billion dollar medium multi-role
combat aircraft(MMRCA) project.
Referring to UN Security Council reforms, the
ambassador said India and Germany should work together in
realising their aspirations to get a permanent seat in the
prestigious policy making body.
India and Germany along with Brazil and Japan comprise
the G-4 which is aspiring for a seat on the high table.
"We are in the same boat," he said when asked how he
reckons chances of India and Germany to become a permanent
member. The two countries have got non-permanent membership
for two years from January one this year. PTI GSN
SMT