Modi-Merkel Meeting: Germany Ties Up With India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (G) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (D) in Berlin on 30 May 2017.

Narendra Modi is on tour in Europe. It is this Tuesday afternoon in Spain. He then traveled to Russia and then to France. But he made the first stage of his trip to Germany, where he just completed a short visit started Monday night.

After her, Sunday statements marked by a distance with the United States, did the third consultations between the German and Indian governments have been an opportunity for Angela Merkel to deepen relations with other powers?

The Chancellor, who appreciates Indian Prime Minister Modi, announced with his counterpart the annual payment of one billion euros of aid from Germany in the future. This money must be used for the development of future sectors such as renewable energies. Angela Merkel, disappointed by Donald Trump's reservations on climate change, welcomed India's commitment to the Paris agreement.

The meeting between the two leaders was also used to prepare for the G20 in Hamburg in early July under the German presidency. A summit in which China will participate, whose prime minister will be in Berlin on Wednesday evening, reminds our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut.

Angela Merkel has however tried to relativize her distance from the United States of the weekend. The Chancellor stressed that relations with other countries like China and India do not call into question the transatlantic relationship "  of historical significance yesterday and tomorrow for Germany  ".

Narendra Modi, for his part, flew to Madrid. He will be the first Indian Head of State to visit Spain for nearly 30 years. In Russia, he will meet Vladimir Putin and attend the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg and the 18th annual Indo-Russian Summit. During his visit to France, a step added at the last minute, the Indian Prime Minister will meet the new President Emmanuel Macron.

On the other hand, the Indian Head of State will not stop in Brussels, confirming that India is trying to avoid the European Union by privileging bilateral relations with the countries that compose it.