In a statement to media, Scholz highlighted
the countries' common aims, such as fighting climate change, and the importance
of cooperation between democracies. However, his comments on Russia's invasion
of Ukraine contrasted with those of Modi, who has called for a ceasefire but
resisted western calls to condemn the Kremlin's actions, which they describe as
a "special military operation". A week after agreeing for the first time to
send heavy weapons to Ukraine to support its fight, Scholz appealed once more
to Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops. Modi, whose government procures most of its
military hardware from Russia, said dialogue was the only way to a reach a
solution. “We believe that there will be no winner in
this war, everyone will lose. We are in favour of peace,” said Modi, whose
visit to Europe will also take him to Denmark and France. Modi, who has not held a single press
conference in India since becoming prime minister in 2014, did not take
questions after reading out from prepared statements. His visit comes days after Scholz's first
trip to Asia, when, in a departure from his predecessors, he went to Japan and
not China as German foreign policy shifts to focusing on strengthening
alliances with democratic allies. Germany is also seeking to diversify its
trade relations in Asia to reduce its reliance on China, which it has
recognised as a strategic rival. German trade with India, the world's
second-most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people, was less than 10%
of its trade with China in 2021. India is one of the guest countries Germany
will invite to attend the G7 summit it is hosting in June, a German government
spokesman said earlier on Monday. ($1 = 0.9510 euros)