India Will Break China's Monopoly: German Development Minister Schulz at Reinvest Summit

New Delhi: Republic exclusively spoke to the German Development Minister and the German Ambassador to India, at the Reinvest Summit held earlier this week. The development minister highlighted how India is a nation that will break China's monopoly.

'India Will Break China's Monopoly': German Development Minister Suvenja Schulz

In an exclusive conversation with Republic, Suvenja Schulz, the Development Minister of Germany spoke about China Market Exchange, India's survival and how it has great potential for being one of the players in the market. 

In her words, “We want this potential to be brought forward and want to now lift this potential in reality. So that is what we do here, to bring the companies, to bring all the ideas, the scientists, to make that success story.”

Suvenja Schulz on India-Germany Partnership

On strengthening India-Germany's partnership, Suvenja Schulz said, “Both heads of the states signed an agreement that we want to deepen our partnership. And now we see the results from that. We have established today the Partnership for Renewable Energy, so that means that the Indian government and the German government are collaborating on how to bring renewable energies forward. And that means that we have a lot of companies here with us. We have 20 companies who are joining us here just to bring renewable energies and our competencies to the market in India. And we want to be the best partner for you to bring renewables here, because we have such a lot of experience.”

She further said, "With our longstanding partnership, with our deep friendship with India, I think we are the best partner for you to bring that forward. And that is what we are going to do from now on, And we all want that. Our coal is missing out, and renewable energies are the next step for India also. Specifically to solar energy, because the Prime Minister also talked about solar, and specifically to the solar plants as well. There was a statement that was written by your office about how there is a very common difference between India and China about it as well, and how India is in fact competing with China, and also surpassing it in a lot of words and so on as well. And how this is going to affect India and Germany as well going forward, and the rest of the world as well. Solar panels are needed around the world. And India is one of the countries who is able to build solar panels in the future. And that would be really good, because at the moment, there is just one player in the field. And we want to have competition. We want to have India also on the market, so that there is not the dependency on just one country. 

We know from the COVID pandemic that it is not a really good idea to have just one supplier, one who is able to deliver. And so we do everything in our partnership to enhance India to be a player in the market and to bring renewables forward, solar panels forward, because it is needed in the world. And we need India to be a champion of that."

German Ambassador to India on Reinvest Summit

Speaking on the Reinvest Summit 2024, the German Ambassador to India said, “There had been a lot of statements so far as solar energy is concerned and India-Germany partnership going forward. What can be some of the key takeaways, what are the focus points for India-Germany partnership in terms of renewable energy? First of all, you have to say that both governments attach the highest value to this renewables chapter of the private sector. It shows that the Prime Minister himself opened and inaugurated this fair, but also the German Minister for Cooperation and Development came and showed the German interest.”

He further said, “I think you have to see it in the context of this Indo-German partnership of green development, sustainable development, where renewables is a very, very important. We feel that India is a very interesting market for renewables in many ways. We feel first of all that in the context of climate change, mitigation of climate change, adaptation to climate change, renewables have to play an important role. But then again, we will in the years to come develop a very, very profound and solid hydrogen structure in Germany. India is one of the countries that can deliver. Basically, what we see is that India can turn into an energy provider all of a sudden.”

RE-INVEST is a GoI’s flagship event to showcase India’s RE potential to the world & to invite investment in the sector by initiating multilateral dialogue. It is a global renewable energy investors meet and expo organized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India.