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The German Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel, said here on Tuesday that Germany “will wait and see” for India to take a decision on the acquisition of fighter jets. Germany has offered the Eurofighter jets for the Indian Air Force.
India is in the market for new fighters for the air force. Recently, it rejected the US offer for the jets.
“We are convinced we have the best product on offer. We will certainly not exert any pressure on the procurement process. We wish this to be transparent and smooth. We shall wait and see,” the Chancellor said.
After the conclusion of a meeting with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the two countries signed four Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) including a cooperation agreement between Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata and Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Hamburg. In addition an MoU was also signed between Department of Science and Technology and the Leibnitz Association for organising an Indo-German symposia on ‘Frontiers of science and technology'.
Meanwhile, India has reiterated its desire to have greater German investments particularly in the areas of infrastructure, high technology, energy and basic and applied sciences.
“India offers a stable and friendly investment climate and a large growing market,” said Dr Manmohan Singh in his opening remarks at a joint media interaction with the visiting German Chancellor. Bilateral trade which was more than €15 billion last year, was on course to reach the target of €20 billion annually by 2012, Dr Singh said.
Dr Manmohan Singh said that Germany was India's largest trading partner in Europe and one of the most important partners for technological collaboration and joint research and development.
In her speech, Ms Merkel said that renewable energy offers a lot of scope for cooperation between India and Germany. The Chancellor added that though the growth of bilateral trade was about 15 per cent there was still a lot that needed to be done.
IMF honcho
Responding to questions from the media on the new IMF Chief, the Prime Minister said it did not come up in discussions. India's view was that the best available person irrespective of his or her nationality should be selected for the post of Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since it was a prestigious job, he said.
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