By IANS,
New Delhi: India and Germany are set to focus on giving a fresh push to UN Security Council reforms and scaling up their economic ties when German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle comes here next week.
Westerwelle is expected to arrive in India on Sunday on a three-day visit, his first to the country since he became Germany’s foreign minister nearly a year ago.
He will hold talks with his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna Monday on a wide range of issues, including the expansion of the UN Security Council and the intensification of economic and defence ties.
India is set to get elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2011-2012 in a vote of the UN General Assembly Tuesday that is being held to fill five of 10 non-permanent seats on the council.
While the election of India from the Asia region is a virtual certainty, Germany is competing with Portugal and Canada from the Western Europe and Other Groups region.
Both India and Germany are part of the G4 grouping that also comprises Japan and Brazil that is pushing for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. India and Germany see their bid to get non-permanent seat as a big boost to the process of expanding the UN Security Council in permanent category.
The UN reforms will figure permanently in the discussions, sources said.
In his maiden speech to the UN General Assembly last month, Westerwelle underlined German credibility and trustworthiness as he made a strong pitch for a seat on the UN Security Council.
The two countries, which have set a bilateral target of 20 billion euro by 2012, will also seek to scale up their bilateral trade and investment. The two sides recently agreed to set up a hotline at a high government level to resolve visa problems faced by business persons and skilled professionals of the two countries.
The two sides are also expected to review the progress in talks between India and the 27-nation European Union over a broad-based agreement to open trade and investment.