Group photo of the participants during the founding event of the "Indo-German Association for Legal Corporation" in the Indian Embassy in Berlin

Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative KAS India

Abhishek Singh, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy in Berlin

(from left) Christian Hirte, Member of German Parliament, Nalin S. Kohli, Spokesperson of the BJP, and Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative KAS India

Nalin S. Kohli signing the founding document of the IGAL

(from left) Nalin S. Kohli, Abhishek Singh, Peter Rimmele and Christian Hirte, Member of German Parliament

The association aims to support the exchange between Indian and German lawyers and form a unique network. It will also focus on promoting research, science and legal education and training.

The founders Christian Hirte, Member of German Parliament, and Nalin S. Kohli, an important lawyer and national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), pointed out in their introductory remarks the growing importance of India and the high relevance of an exchange on legal issues. Especially with regard to the growing economic cooperation of both countries, a regular exchange on legal developments is essential. They emphasized that with the founding of the association, the dialogue on legal issues can now be consolidated and that Germany and India would benefit enormously from this dialogue in the future. Mr. Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in India, focused in his welcome remarks on the origins of the association and reminded of the special role of his predecessor late Lars-Peter Schmidt in the initiation of the legal dialogue and in bringing together the founding initiators. Abhishek Singh, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy, stressed that the German-Indian strategic partnership would be further strengthened by the association and encouraged further expansion of German-Indian cooperation.

The basis for the founding of the association was established by several study and dialogue programmes organized and conducted by the India Office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. First deliberations on founding an association had already taken place during the visit of an Indian delegation to the party convention of the CDU 2016. While the study and information programme for Christian Hirte, Member of German Parliament, in India and the dialogue and study proramme for Nalin S. Kohli in Germany the plan to establish the association was concretized and gained further support from high-level representatives of Germany and India.

Despite the strategic partnership between India and Germany, there was previously no effective platform for lawyers, judges or academics dedicated to the exchange on legal issues and the rule of law. The founding of the association closed a thematic gap in the relations between Germany and India and made an important contribution for the future cooperation.