• Germany and India agreed to collaborate on technologies.
• Chancellor said he would personally make an effort to expedite a trade agreement with India.
• The two sides also committed to expanding their collaboration on green hydrogen.

On Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s first visit to India as leader, Germany, and India agreed to collaborate on technologies to make the transition to renewable energy easier, as well as to strengthen defense cooperation and commerce.

“We want to further strengthen trade ties between the European Union and India,” Scholz said in New Delhi after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The chancellor said he would personally make an effort to expedite a trade agreement.

The two sides also committed to expanding their collaboration on green hydrogen “to achieve a socially just, economically sustainable, secure, and affordable energy supply,” according to a joint statement issued following the meeting.

Scholz and Modi also discussed the conflict in Ukraine and the consequences of food and fertilizer shortages. The two parties also agreed to expand their defense cooperation. There have been negotiations about the collaborative development of defense equipment, according to India‘s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra in a separate briefing.

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, a German defense manufacturing powerhouse, is one of two worldwide bidders for a $5 billion contract to build six conventional diesel-electric submarines in India.

While Prime Minister Modi stated that India wants to cooperate more closely with Germany to “realize the untapped potential in defense cooperation,” Kwatra acknowledged that the two leaders also discussed collaborative submarine design and manufacturing.

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