No. 262/08
Berlin, 15.11.2008

Gabriel travelling to India for political talks

Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel is going to India today (15 November 2008) to hold political talks. The goal of this trip is to deepen cooperation with India in the areas of the environment and energy. The Minister is accompanied by a business delegation, Members of the German Bundestag and representatives of German environmental associations.

The programme of the visit includes bilateral talks with Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of India on climate change issues, and further members of the Indian government responsible for energy issues, environment and water management.

Moreover, Minister Gabriel will meet with representatives of Indian non-governmental organisations for an exchange of views and visit a reforestation project south of the Indian capital for which the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) provides consulting services in the framework of the Clean Development Mechanism.

The focus of the four-day visit to New Delhi will be the first Indo-German Environment Forum that Minister Gabriel will open on 18 November together with his Indian colleague Namo Narain Meena. The two-day conference, which will be attended by numerous representatives of German and Indian companies, deals with environmental technologies in the areas of waste and waste water, sanitation and energy supply. In bilateral "business-to-business" talks and as part of a trade fair, there will be an opportunity on the fringes of the meeting for an exchange of experiences, networking and establishing business contacts.

The Federal Environment Ministry offers targeted support for export activities to provide "greentech made in Germany" worldwide. The export initiatives ReTech and the German Water Partnership serve as a platform for companies from the waste and water sectors.

Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel: "Germany is in a good position to make a major contribution to the modernisation of resource-intensive economies like that of India. Environmental technologies made in Germany enjoy an excellent reputation, for Germany has largely succeeded in decoupling economic growth from the consumption of natural resources."