German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann held his first press briefing in New Delhi where he termed China’s claim on the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as ‘outrageous ‘.
“We should not forget that China claims Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of China, which is outrageous. So, I think that the infringement at the border is extremely difficult and should not be accepted”, said the Ambassador in his first press briefing in New Delhi.
While speaking to ANI post briefing, the new German Ambassador lauded Indian values, saying that the partnership between the two countries will be great. He also praised India’s democracy, its judicial system and the separation of powers.
“When I presented my credentials to the President of India, she said to me that Germany and India share the same values of democracy and that’s true because we do share the same values of democracy and therefore we want to work together as like-minded countries. I feel that the different institutions in Indian society, be that Parliament, the executive or the judiciary. These are all partners for us and we want to work with them together,” the envoy said.
Calling climate change one of the biggest issues, the ambassador said that he believes that climate change is on the table and calls India and Germany’s partnership a great partnership.
“I think this is one of the biggest items that are on the table. We agreed on a common partnership for green and sustainable development during the intergovernmental consultation in May and I think that it will be a task for our bilateral relations in future to fulfil this partnership. We have to look into tackling climate change and also stop wrecking biodiversity. Therefore, we have developed programmes with India. Concrete programmes will try to develop various means to get out of this crisis. And, I hope that this partnership will be a great partnership,” he said.
Ambassador Ackermann also expressed his concern regarding the visa delay faced by the Indian students in Germany and said that “we are very unhappy about the current situation and believe that by the end of the year things may get back to normal.”
“We are very unhappy about the current situation. We want Indian citizens to get visas. This is of great concern to us. I think that by the end of the year, we may get back to normal. Indians travelling to Europe will grow and I want it to grow. We just find ways. We have more than 30,000 Indian students in Germany. They are doing great. They are excellent students,” he said.
As the UN nuclear watchdog heads to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the ambassador called this a big concern and expressed hope that this war comes to an end.
“We are very concerned about this nuclear power plant station. We hope that IAEA gets access to it. But that’s only a small part of the whole problem. We want this war to end but it has to end with a solution that is acceptable to both sides,” he said.
The German Ambassador also acknowledged that the Indian side has well-recognized the problem of the violation of international rules regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“We might not agree on every line regarding Ukraine, but I want to state that out of my first impression of Indian colleagues. Ukraine’s problem has manifold impacts on the world… Indian side very well recognises the problem of the violation of international law,” he said.
He also said Germany had seen India’s stand during the UN Security Council (UNSC) session where New Delhi voted against the Russian proposal to prevent Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from addressing the forum.
Earlier, the Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia requested a procedural vote concerning the Ukrainian president’s participation in the meeting through video conference.
Russia voted against it while China abstained from voting.