India ? Germany sign joint declaration of Intent on strengthening bilateral economic cooperation
At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Friedrich Merz, paid an official visit to India from 12-13 January 2026. The Chancellor was accompanied by a high-level delegation including 23 leading German CEOs and industry leaders. This was Chancellor Merz’s first official visit to India and his first visit to Asia as Federal Chancellor, reflecting the high priority Germany attaches to India as a key strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific. The visit followed the successful 7th India–Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) held in New Delhi on 25 October 2024, and comes at a high point in the journey of bilateral ties between the two countries, with completion of 25 years of India–Germany Strategic Partnership in 2025, and commemoration of 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2026. Both leaders sincerely appreciated the renewed momentum in bilateral engagement across government, business, civil society and academia that has played an instrumental role in advancing and deepening the Strategic Partnership.
The two Leaders addressed India-Germany CEOs Forum and held restricted and delegation-level talks in Ahmedabad on 12 January 2026. They reaffirmed the shared democratic values, commitment to a rules-based international order, and mutual respect underpinning the Strategic Partnership. Both leaders reviewed bilateral relations and discussed regional and global developments. The Leaders welcomed the sustained growth in bilateral trade and investment and noted that bilateral trade reached a record high in 2024, with the positive trend continuing through 2025.
India-Germany bilateral trade in goods and services surpassed USD 50 billion in 2024, amounting to over 25% of India’s trade with EU. The leaders noted the strong two-way investments between India and Germany and the positive impacts of such investments in diversifying global supply chains. They reaffirmed their commitment to fully realising untapped economic potential, including through SMEs, startups, digitalization, AI, and innovation-driven enterprises. Prime Minister Modi invited German companies to invest / expand businesses in India to benefit from its strong economic growth, business-friendly environment, large highly-skilled workforce and immense opportunities to scale up operations. Chancellor Merz recommended Germany as an attractive location for investment by Indian companies.
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