Dear Members and Friends of IGCC,
We are already two months into 2024. This year will be a year of elections. The largest election will be held in India. Maybe the most important one for the coming years will be the Presidential elections in early November in the USA. Sometime in between, early June, the member states of the European Union will elect a new parliament and a new EU Commission.
In India, almost all experts expect continuity. Based on the enormous popularity of the Prime Minister and strong economic performance, it is broadly expected that PM Narendra Modi will be elected for a third term. This will also mean political continuity, which was already visible when the Finance Minister presented the preliminary budget for the coming fiscal year. No significant new policies have been announced, and the focus on public infrastructure investments will remain. Economic growth is forecasted to remain at a similar level. This will also mean that the role of India in the global economy and geopolitics will continue growing for years to come.
"In summer we will take the opportunity to zoom in on Indo-German relations. This year’s annual meeting in Germany will be held on June 12 in Munich. The focus will be on collaborative innovation."
The outcome of the elections in the EU is much more difficult to predict. There is a significant concern that in several EU member states, including and most importantly Germany, right-wing populists may be the winners of the elections. Most of them are EU-critical, and some are even explicitly anti-EU. Political leaders in Europe see a rapidly increasing necessity, even urgency, to strengthen the European Voice and especially the EU’s military capabilities. An outcome, which weakens EU institutions would most likely undermine those efforts and further harm the EU’s geopolitical standing. The further implementation of far-reaching regulatory projects in the area of sustainability and the EU Green Deal could be impacted as well.
On November 5, the eyes of the world will be on the outcome of the Presidential elections in the US. As of now, it seems to be almost certain that we will see a “rematch” of the 2020 elections between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The actual difference in their politics, especially their positioning towards China, might not be regarded as large. Their attitudes towards global collaboration and international institutions are worlds apart. At a time, at which collaboration is more important than ever, the pulling out of the world’s largest economy and strongest military power is a scary thought.
In October, when we meet at the Asia-Pacific Conference 2024 in Delhi, we will have clarity with respect to India and the EU. However, the last piece of the 2024 electoral puzzle will still be missing. The perfect time to assess the situation, to discuss, which progress will have been made during the year in the relations between Germany and the Indo-Pacific region, and which tasks will remain. It does not take a genius to predict that there will be many open tasks and that it will require close collaboration between all players, the public and the private, to address those tasks.
In summer we will take the opportunity to zoom in on Indo-German relations. This year’s annual meeting in Germany will be held on June 12 in Munich. The focus will be on collaborative innovation. We plan to cover two important sectors, mobility and medical technology, with expert panellists from India and Germany. Stay tuned for more information in the next few weeks.
Skilling and training is another topic with strong Indo-German ties and many bilateral initiatives. Based on our decades-long experience in dual vocational training in India and our dedicated teams for training, skilling, recognition, and migration, we are confident that we can and will be a key player when it comes to training young Indians and enabling them to build solid careers, be it in India or in Germany. With our strong partners in Germany and India, we can build an ecosystem that will help create a skilled workforce for tomorrow’s industries, again, in India and Germany.
Enjoy reading this newest edition of our magazine.
