German Chancellor Angela Merkel left Monday on a four-day visit to India expected to be dominated by talks on trade and global warming, according to dpa. The chancellor will meet President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi before heading to the economic centre of Mumbai on her first trip to India since taking office in 2005. Merkel, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G8 club of rich industrial nations, heads a delegation that includes Research Minister Annette Schavan and the heads of leading German companies. The two sides are expected to sign an agreement on the mutual protection of classified information as well as declarations of intent covering science, environmental research and postal projects. German firms will be looking to grab a share of the 360 billion euros (511 billion dollars) that India plans to invest in infrastructure and other projects in the next five years. Bilateral trade passed the 10-billion-euro (14-billion-dollar) mark in 2006, and Germany is the seventh largest investor in India with a total inflow of 1.9 billion dollars between 1991 and June 2007. On global warming, Merkel will be seeking to learn India's position about the United Nations climate conference taking place on the Indonesian island of Bali next month. The meeting is intended to draw up a framework for a replacement to the Kyoto protocols on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which expires in 2012. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party wants to make relations with Asia a cornerstone of Germany's foreign and security policy in order to ensure the region's growing economic and political clout does not lead to a decline in German influence. Merkel will use the final day of her trip on Thursday to view a social welfare project and meet civic groups for a discussion on India's caste system and minority rights.
