German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to arrive in India next week

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will arrive here next week to hold bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during which key issues would be discussed, especially cooperation in technology, trade and defence. Steinmeier will be arriving on Monday on a two-day visit.

A number of key bilateral, regional and international issues are likely to be discussed during the meeting between the two leaders, official sources said. Germany, which is India's largest trading partner in Europe, is the 8th largest foreign direct investor in the country. The flow of German FDI in 2012 was USD 730 million. 

Germany's total FDI in India was USD 5.2 billion in the period 2000-2012, constituting about 3 per cent of total FDI to India, according to official data.

Officials said that the Indo-German cooperation in trade and technology is one of the most dynamic facets of the bilateral partnership.

Bilateral Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in September 2006, which provides a framework for annual consultations, has placed bilateral defence cooperation on a firm footing, they said.