NEW DELHI: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit India from March 22 to 25 with an aim to strengthen bilateral ties.
It will be his first visit to India as the German President.
"The visit is significant as it will be the President's first visit after the new German government was sworn in yesterday," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
Apart from his engagements here, Steinmeier, who will be accompanied by a delegation of top German businessmen and indologists, will visit Varanasi and Chennai.
He had visited India several times in his former capacity as the Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany.
The last German President to visit India was Joachim Gauck in February 2014.
"India's relationship with Germany is amongst our foremost relations, bilaterally and in global context.
After having established strategic partnership since 2000, successive governments on the two sides have endeavoured to broaden and deepen this relationship," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Germany is India's largest trading partner in Europe and the sixth largest trading partner in the world.
India was ranked 24th in Germany's global trade.
"India's current priorities in most areas match with German expertise, such as renewable energy, skills development, smart city, water and waste management," the MEA said.
In 2016-17, the bilateral trade turnover was USD 18.76 billion.
In 2016-17, India exported goods worth USD 7.18 billion to Germany and imported goods worth USD 11.58 billion.
Germany is the 7th largest foreign direct investor in India and the cumulative German FDI in India from April 2000 to December 2017 is USD 10.71 billion or 2.91 per cent of total FDI, according to official figures.