Event reports
India has a new government since the parliamentary elections in May 2014. The Indian National Congress (INC) which had ruled India for ten years was defeated by a large margin by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of now Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Welcomed with great euphoria, the new government faced a multitude of economic and developmental challenges. The declining economic growth and the fluctuating inflation rates of the recent past is being countered by a liberalization of the economy, a stronger rule of law, more investment in infrastructure, skill development and education.
Against this background, it is the objective of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) to establish and consolidate an exchange between German and Indian Members of Parliament with decision-makers from politics, economy, academia and civil society in both countries. It was felt that India’s interests in core topics of the German model of social market economy like family-owned small and medium-sized businesses, skill development and vocational training through the dual educations system, industrial and infrastructure development in former East Germany after the fall of the wall and the so-called energy transition for sustainable energy and environmental security could be the foundation of an intensified dialogue.
This is especially relevant considering Prime Minsters Modi’s immensely successful visit to Germany in April 2015 to inaugurate the worldwide biggest industrial fair “HannoverMesse” in which India was a partner country as well as in the light of the upcoming Indo-German Government Consultations for which Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and senior members of her cabinet will visit Delhi in October 2015.
In this context, KAS and FICCI jointly organized a political dialogue programme for a multi-party group of high-level Members of Parliament, led by Anurag Thakur, Member of Parliament, Parliamentary Spokesperson of the BJP in the Lok Sabha and National President of the BJYM and Representatives of the FICCI Presidium, led by Dr. Jyotsna Suri, President of FICCI from 1st to 5th September 2015 in Germany. The delegation visited a mid-sized company (with production facilities both in Germany and India) in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg to gain insight into the German system of in-company dual education. Subsequently, the delegation visited the capital of the federal state of Saxony, Dresden, to meet senior members of the state government (e.g. the Chief Minister) for a dialogue on former East Germany’s efforts to revive itself industrially and environmentally after 1990. The programme was concluded with political meetings in Berlin, i.e. with Members of the Federal Governement, Members of Parliament and representatives of the German industry, associations, academia and civil society.