Gandhi began his visit with a meeting with minister of state and member of the Bundestag Niels Annen.
New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday began a two-day visit to Germany during which he is expected to address the Bucerius Summer School and a gathering of Indian National Overseas Congress.
Mr Gandhi began his visit with a meeting with minister of state and member of the Bundestag Niels Annen.
In a Facebook post, the Congress president said that he discussed Indian and German politics, floods in Kerala, the Goods and Services Tax and jobs with the minister.
Mr Annen tweeted: “Honored to receive Congress president Rahul Gandhi in my constituency Eimsbüttel in Hamburg. India is a valued partner and close friend”.
The Congress party had earlier announced that Mr Gandhi would be visiting Germany and London to meet businessmen, politicians, academics and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
US-based engineer and innovator, Sam Pitroda, who is a key advisor to the Mr Gandhi had tweeted: “Because of the high demand from NRIs, and political, business, academia, intellectuals and media in EU and UK, president of the Indian National Congress Rahul Gandhi will be visiting Germany on August 22 and 23 and London on August 24 and 25.”
“Mr Gandhi will give a series of talks at large public events, meet political and business leaders and also interact with intellectuals, academics, students and media,” Mr Pitroda said.
“Mr Gandhi started similar tours about a year ago to interact with global communities, NRIs and Indian Overseas Congress to understand, explore and promote India’s interests and aspirations.
He first visited US, then Middle East, Singapore and Malaysia,” he added.
Mr Pitroda was advisor to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and before him to Rajiv Gandhi for almost a decade in the 1980s.
He was the founding chairman of India’s Telecom Commission, now known as Department of Telecommunications. He was also the key figure in the establishment of Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) in 1984, founded to develop telecommunication technologies in the country.