Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday met the Ambassador of Germany in India, Philipp Ackermann, and Australian High Commissioner Barry O'Farrell at his residence. Sharing photos of the meeting with Ackermann, Kharge said that the two "deliberated upon the deepening strategic partnership between the two countries founded upon common democratic principles and marked by a high degree of trust and mutual respect".
India's bilateral relationship with Germany got a massive boost in February this year, when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited New Delhi and assured that he would "personally get involved" to ensure the long-pending talks for having a free trade and investment agreement between India and the European Union (EU) take place soon.
India and the EU have been negotiating a trade deal since 2007. However, the deal has missed several deadlines since then. However, due to Germany and France, the FTA could not be signed when it was almost nearing conclusion back in 2012-2013 over tariff issues, especially in the automobiles and the wines and spirits sectors.
Kharge also received a visit from Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell. Soon after the meeting, Kharge said: "India and Australia have several commonalities, which serve as a foundation for closer cooperation and multifaceted interaction. Our strategic partnership has grown in strength and in importance. Australia’s High Commissioner to India, The Hon. Barry O'Farrell met me, as we discussed ways to deepen the relationship between the two countries."
The meeting with Farell comes a day after he said that the closer defence ties between India and Australia have proved that “working together can be a deterrent to acts of coercion across the region". He also said that the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between Australia and India is likely to be signed by December as India will conduct one of the biggest elections in history next year. “When you’re a democracy, the trade deals...have to be saleable to the electorate. That was the approach we took with the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement...and I think that’s the path on which a future trade deal will be concluded," he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Mallikarjun Kharge's meetings with the German envoy and the Australian High Commissioner come at a time when Congress is gearing up for the 2023 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress on June 23 attended a united Opposition meeting convened by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. The strategy that Kumar wants to employ against the BJP is 'one Opposition candidate per seat' to restrict the saffron party to below hundred seats. Congress is likely to attend the next meeting of the Opposition platform in July in Shimla.