Set to make it exciting for citizens for study and in each other's country, India and Germany has confirmed that the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, on Monday, inked a mobility agreement "That will make it easier for our people to study, do research and work in each other's country." In May, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Berlin, the two countries agreed on a migration and mobility partnership which the respective government hope will enable the “mutual mobility” of students, professionals and researchers.
“We can use the great potential of migration and skilled workers to our mutual advantage. It is the first agreement of this kind for our country,” German chancellor Olaf Scholz had said.
“I am confident that the Comprehensive Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement between India and Germany will facilitate movement between the two countries,” Modi agreed, adding that recent free trade agreements with UAE and Australia were signed “in a very short time”.
Under the agreement, India and Germany had agreed to pursue further cooperation on education and qualifications, appreciating especially the establishment of digital preparatory courses that Indian students can enrol on to begin their Germany university courses.
Speaking at the press conference in Berlin, Scholz said that the higher education and science sector is a “good indicator of the ever-closer interdependence” between the countries.
“More than 17,000 Indian students take advantage of offers from German universities. You are very welcome in Germany – even after your studies,” he added.
Both governments also welcomed university-level efforts to explore cooperation between universities of both countries, for instance in the form of joint or dual degrees.
“The Indian government will promote student exchange and allow German students to be admitted to Indian universities through programs such as ‘Study in India’,” the agreement further stated.
Baerbock is on a two-day visit to the national capital.
India will have a decisive influence in shaping the international order in the 21st century, especially in the Indo-Pacific, Baerbock said.
She also described as "impressive" India managing to lift more than 400 million people out of absolute poverty in the last 15 years, and said, "It shows that social plurality, freedom, and democracy are a motor for economic development, peace, and stability."
"Working on this together with strengthening human rights is also our task," Baerbock said in a statement on her visit to India.
That we want to strengthen economic and security policy cooperation with India beyond strategic partnership are not empty words, she said.
The German foreign minister arrived in Delhi on Monday morning and is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar.
