New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla on Thursday (January 20) welcomed German Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Schönbach, to India, and both sides discussed maritime security in the context of the emerging role of Germany in the Indo Pacific.
"Talks focused on maritime security cooperation in context of greater engagement by Germany in the #IndoPacific in line with its recent Indo Pacific Guidelines," MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet. He also said that Shringla also had a wide-ranging teleconference with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday. "Inter alia reviewed upcoming bilateral engagements and the COVID pandemic, including supply of vaccines, and exchanged views on Indo-Pacific, Middle East, UNSC, India's neighborhood, etc," the MEA spokesman tweeted.
Indo Pacific has gained strategic importance in the recent past in discussions between India and several western powers, including the United States. Washington has lately suggested that there should be a 'common goals framework' for larger cooperation on an economic front in the context of Indo Pacific. In October, US President Joe Biden stated Washington was keen to launch talks on creating an Indo Pacific economic framework. Of course, the new mechanism would be aimed at countering China's influence in the region.
The initial ideas of economic cooperation include trade facilitation, digital economy standards and export controls, among other things.
