India, Germany discuss anti-terror pact, focus on economic ties

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with visiting German President Horst Koehler on a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including the intensification of trade and investment, counter-terror cooperation, climate change and energy security.

The two leaders discussed a proposed accord on counter-terror cooperation and a framework agreement on economic and technological cooperation involving USD 500 million, and decided to finalise these in the coming months.

The security pact envisages creating a legal basis and framework for the training of Indians by anti-terror specialists in Germany. The home ministry is looking at a draft of the pact sent by German officials.

There was a meeting of minds between the two leaders with considerable expertise in economic issues on the global financial crisis and the need for sustained regulation of capital markets.

Manmohan Singh, an economist by training and a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, is credited with opening India's overregulated economy in the 1990s when he was finance minister. Koehler, a former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is well versed wigth issues of global financial governance.

The German president backed the inclusion of major emerging economies like India in key global financial institutions.

Koehler will discuss issues relating to fiscal regulation with RBI Governor D. Subbarao and Chief General Manager Grace Koshie in Mumbai Friday.

Koehler began the official leg of his week-long visit to India Tuesday with a ceremonial reception at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Koehler also met Vice President Hamid Ansari, ruling United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. President Pratibha Patil will host a banquet for him Tuesday night.

Accompanied by a high-profile business delegation, he arrived here Monday night on a multi-city tour, including New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. It is the first visit by a German president to India in the last seven years.

Germany is India's biggest trade partner in the EU with bilateral trade estimated at over USD 20 billion.

Besides official talks, the 66-year-old Koehler has a slew of engagements across cities in India that involves an interface with industrialists, scientists and intellectuals.

The president's packed itinerary includes a visit to the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, a trip to the Volkswagen plant and energy company Thermax's premises in Pune, and a meeting with Indian industrialists in Mumbai.

He will also visit the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and the Jewish centre in Mumbai Thursday, among the key targets during the Nov 26-28, 2008, terror strike.

Koehler heads to South Korea, the current chair of the G20, after wrapping up his visit to India Sunday.