Indian workers talented and welcome, says senior German leader

NEW DELHI - Germany wants talented Indian workers and appropriate visas for that will not be a problem despite stringent immigration rules, the chief minister of the European country’s second largest state has said.

“We are fascinated by the energies of young Indian people. We want them to be a part of Germany’s growth. India and Germany share common values on strategic issues and have strong democracy and rule of law,” said Niedersachsen Chief Minister David McAllister.

“We are also interested in more Indian investment coming in to Germany, including my own state,” McAllister, who is the political head of Germany’s second largest state by area with Hanover as capital, told IANS in an interview.

The chief minister, who is all of 39 years and represents a state that is also called Lower Saxony, said the visa issue was a part of the ongoing discussions for the proposed India-European Union free trade agreement.

“We certainly hope the norms will be liberalised, once the free trade agreement is signed. The real concern, actually, for Germany is the flow of cheap labour from India. We are not concerned at all about skilled workers.”

McAllister, soon after the interview, also took pride in displaying some glitzy new Volkswagen cars, the headquarters of which is at Wolfsburg in Lower Saxony, as also a couple of Skodas. They were in display at the German Embassy.

The chief minister, incidentally, is a member of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, which overseas such car marques as Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Automobili Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda and Scania.

“Apart from trade and economic ties, we also want Indian students to come to my country and study there. For the matter of convenience, we are now focusing on English as the medium of instruction at our universities,” he said.

“And in the case of students, there is no problem at all in getting visas.”

(Gyanendra Kumar Keshri can be contacted at gyanendra.k@ians.in and biz@ians.in)