Germany does a lot of business with Haryana, Punjab: German envoy Ackermann

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], July 7 : German Ambassador to India Phillip Ackermann on Friday said Germany does a lot of business with Haryana, Punjab and has a long tradition with these states.

The German Ambassador said while speaking about his Chandigarh visit, "It was a very, very packed, interesting visit. Chandigarh is a wonderful place. It's green, it's orderly. I think everybody loves Chandigarh in a way. And Germany has a long tradition with these two states, Haryana and Punjab. We have a lot of business here, we have a lot of interesting modern business here and we have a growing Punjabi community also in Germany."

Ackermann said: "I'm concluding now a two-day visit to Chandigarh, two days full of meetings, full of appointments. The center of the visit was, of course, the meeting with the two chief ministers from Punjab, Haryana and the two governors."

The German Ambassador said in Chandigarh, he spoke with the Chief Justice, visited the assembly and spoke with the two speakers, the Haryana speaker and the Punjab speaker, the chief minister and then he visited the Indian School of Business. He concluded his trip with a visit to the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi.

Ackermann said India is a very interesting market for Germany. "It's a big market, it's a growing market. India has a very solid growth for years now. We are very impressed with this growth. It's one of the very few countries in the world that has sustainable growth. And therefore German business sees increasingly an opportunity also for further investment in India. Now, Germany is by far the biggest trading partner in Europe with India. But I think in the years to come, we'll see much more investment in German business here," he said.

He said a growing number of Indian students come to Germany. "We have now 35,000, I have another 32,000 applications on the table of the embassy. That's quite a lot, actually. And unfortunately, we need a little time to process these applications. I know that some students might be a little frustrated that it doesn't go as quickly as they had expected, but I can tell you that, in principle, Indian students are very welcome in Germany."

He said German universities are very keen on having Indian students and have a very good reputation in Germany and that students should be very careful before working together with agencies.

"I would advise every student from Punjab to make an application in Germany, a verification of the documents on his or her own. We have seen agencies that are fraudulent and therefore I would recommend doing it individually and not through an agency," he said.

Ackermann on Friday met Punjab Legislative Assembly Speaker S Kultar Singh Sandhwan and emphasised strengthening cooperation between India and Germany in various sectors.

"During the meeting at the Punjab Legislative Assembly, S Kultar Singh Sandhwan stressed issues related to the Sikhs residing in Germany," Punjab's Information and Public Relations Department said in an official statement.

Ackermann said that Germany is ready to further develop strong bilateral cooperation with India which he stressed will further boost the ties between the two nations, according to the statement.

Earlier in the day, Ackermann enjoyed a view of Chandigarh from the Central Secretariat's terrace. He tweeted, "Impressed by the workplace of famous Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. One of the earliest buildings constituted in Chandigarh, it arguably introduced sustainable & green architecture in. Enjoyed the stunning view of the 'architecture city' from Central Secretariat's terrace."

On Thursday, Philipp Ackermann met Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and discussed many important issues.

He tweeted, "Today Chandigarh met the German Ambassador to India @AmbAckermann at his residence and discussed many important issues... Talked about the investment being made by German companies in Punjab and also discussed important ideas about the education sector...especially the emphasis on imparting skills to the youth."