Chancellor Scholz and several of his ministers are traveling to India to recruit skilled workers for Germany on a large scale. But there is a completely different problem smoldering in the background.
When Olaf Scholz travels to India this Thursday, he will do so with a backpack full of expectations. He takes three days. Two of his ministers are already there: his SPD labor minister Hubertus Heil and his Green economics minister Robert Habeck. In addition to a bilateral meeting between the Chancellor and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there will be a joint plenary session of all participants in the government consultations on Friday chaired by the heads of government. Quite a big train station.
And not without reason. The talks in New Delhi could be crucial for Germany in various areas. Just last Wednesday, the federal government approved the policy document “Focus on India”. In the future, cooperation is to be expanded in a whole range of areas. For example, in economic and trade relations, in recruiting skilled workers and, last but not least, in foreign and security policy.
The problem: Scholz is not the only one who wants a closer partnership with India. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also long sought the Indian Prime Minister’s favor.
The Chancellor will also have this in mind when he meets Modi on Friday. Just a few days before Scholz’s visit, the Indian Prime Minister went to a summit meeting of the so-called Brics states in Kazan, Russia. He and Putin had almost warmly embraced each other as a greeting. The Russian President then expressly praised the good relations between the two countries. Modi had already traveled to Russia in June.
Indian Prime Minister Putin had already offered to mediate in the Ukraine war in June and has now repeated it again. “We fully support the restoration of peace and stability as quickly as possible,” Modi said at the Brics meeting this week. Problems should be resolved in a peaceful manner, he said. Since India has humanitarian concerns in mind, the country is in contact with all sides and will continue to be ready to provide “all kinds of support” to end the war.
The question remains what Modi means by “restoring peace” and “any kind of support”. And: What does it ultimately mean for Germany if India maintains such close relations with Russia?
When Scholz, Heil and Habeck travel to India, the federal government meets a partner who no one knows how reliable he is. On the one hand, this dampens the mood. On the other hand, cooperation with India is extremely important for Germany – especially with regard to the economy and the labor market.
In the future, skilled workers from India will be recruited on a large scale in order to close the gaps in the German labor market, for example in the skilled trades, but also in the health sector. According to the Federal Employment Agency, there were around 1.73 million vacancies to be filled in the fourth quarter of 2023 alone. Demographic change is likely to further exacerbate the problem in the coming years.
Labor Minister Heil therefore explained: “Germany needs more economic dynamism, and for this it needs qualified specialists.” Although the government is “pulling out all the stops at home”, Germany also needs qualified skilled workers to immigrate from abroad. India has all the prerequisites for this, so that recruiting skilled workers is a benefit for both countries. The aim is now to attract workers in India with the help of digital visas, German courses and job fairs.
In addition, India, as the fastest growing G20 state for years and in view of the increasing concerns about dealing with China, has become economically vital for Germany as an export country. With 1.4 billion people, the world’s most populous country is increasingly emerging as a leading force in the Global South.