How Angela Merkel, as Germany’s Environment Minister, tied up with the then Indian Environment Minister Kamal Nath in 1995; Nath’s advice on how to achieve consensus at the climate conference in Berlin; How Chancellor Merkel Dr. From Manmohan Singh, the confusion of emerging countries towards developed countries is better understood; And how she raised the issue of attacks on minorities by Hindu nationalists with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who vehemently denied it – all are part of Merkel’s much-awaited autobiography, “Freedom: Memoirs 1954 – 2021”, published by Pan Macmillan.
As the host country’s environment minister at the UNFCCC in Berlin in 1995, Merkel said, “I quickly developed a friendship with the Indian environment minister, Kamal Nath. India played a very constructive role in the conference. Time passed. Talks were held from the beginning of the morning till the end of the night. Cornelia Quennet-Thielen and all my other colleagues worked to the point of exhaustion. Representatives from developing and developed countries were constantly at odds. NGOs added fuel to the fire.
“As there was no result till the morning of April 7, I was afraid that all the efforts were in vain. Time was slipping through my fingers… I shared my pain with Kamal Nath. The first thing he told me was that he had to leave that evening. There was nothing I could do to change his mind. An urgent domestic matter was calling him. I was shocked. But then he gave me some advice. He asked me to divide the group of ‘friends’ – representatives of developed countries on one side and representatives of developing countries on the other. During the talks the groups would work in separate rooms, while I would shuttle between the groups as a moderator. “I think both groups believe you,” he said. Kamal Nath’s advice was convincing. It was about finding the eye of the needle that everything could be pulled. My frustration suddenly disappeared and I set to work. Kamal Nath pulled back the curtain for me.
Later, a negotiating mandate for a Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change – the Berlin Mandate – was adopted, which included both a commitment to binding greenhouse gas reduction targets and the possibility of joint implementation. This paved the way for the landmark Kyoto Protocol in 1997 – an international treaty that set legally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
As chancellor, Merkel wrote, “I have long been convinced that the economic success of China and India will significantly shift international power relations in their direction. So I want to develop close relations with both countries. In 2010, I suggested to President Hu (Jintao) and Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh to hold regular bilateral intergovernmental consultations. Both agreed. The first German-Indian intergovernmental consultation took place in New Delhi in early June 2011… India was the world’s most populous democracy. The first two German-Indian intergovernmental consultations in 2011 and 2013 were led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Indian side. I met Singh in April 2006 when we officially opened Hannover Messe together, where India was a partner country.”
“His (Manmohan Singh’s) primary objective was to improve the living standards of people living in rural areas, two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion population. This amounts to 800 million people, 10 times the entire population of Germany. In my conversation with him, I understood very well the ambivalence of the developing countries towards us, the rich countries. From his point of view, we expected them to take great interest in our problems, but we were not ready to offer them the same courtesy. I could see his point, and began to study more closely the challenges facing developing countries. Singh told me about the cultural diversity of her country, a subcontinent with more than five thousand years of history,” she said. “India is more comparable to the European Union as a whole than to one of its member states”.
Recalling her meeting with PM Modi, she wrote, ‘In May 2014, Narendra Modi succeeded Singh. He belonged to the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and preferred to speak Hindi, India’s official language, along with English. We met for the first time in April 2015, also during the opening of the Hannover Messe, when India was a partner country for the second time. 400 companies exhibited their products under the slogan ‘Make in India’. At the opening ceremony, Modi vehemently promoted India as a place for investment, speaking English as an exception, and impressed everyone there with a cultural program that included elements of augmented reality. I held my breath as a deceptively real-looking Asiatic lion emerged from the back wall, roared loudly, padded down the stage toward the audience, and wandered down the center aisle of the Hanover Congress Center. Modi loved visual effects. He told me about an election campaign in which he spoke in a studio and his image was projected as a hologram in over 50 different locations, each with thousands of people listening to him. I asked how the audience responded to that kind of virtual presence. He reported that many people waited for him at the end of his speech, wanting to shake his hand, even though they knew he wasn’t there.”
She also wrote about religious freedom with Prime Minister Modi. “Since Modi took office, I have followed with concern reports that members of other faiths, particularly Muslims and Christians, are being attacked by Hindu nationalists. When I spoke to Modi about this, he strongly denied it and insisted that India is and will remain a country of religious tolerance. Unfortunately, the facts say otherwise. We could not agree on this point. My concern remains – religious freedom is, after all, a key component of every democracy.
“Modi’s focus was also on improving the standard of living of Indians, especially for the rural population. He promoted economic growth, especially by tackling the myriad bureaucratic obstacles lurking everywhere. He appointed a staff member in his office as a contact person for companies that were having difficulties with their projects. . This gave rise to the so-called fast track to investment,” she wrote.
In October 2015, the third German-Indian Intergovernmental Consultation took place in New Delhi. “Because Modi heard about my love for classical music, he arranged a small concert for all the participants after lunch. He composed a piece of music especially for the occasion. It was premiered by an orchestra playing Indian and European instruments, symbolizing our cultural ties. I loved moments like these in my official placements; they not only gave me the opportunity to better understand my conversation partners, but also exposed me to a new cultural world It also created an environment from which it became easier to find political compromises,” she wrote.