Merkel's first trip to India

Merkel will leave Monday for a four-day trip to India her first trip as Chancellor along with a trade delegates.Angela Merkel to boost business ties with India on her visit to the world's biggest democracy.she will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"As Europeans, we have every opportunity, including in a country like India," Merkel said at an Asia conference in Berlin. "We just have to get involved."

A government official said German firms wanted to boost ties in newer areas such as environmental technology and software as well as machinery, electrical engineering and chemicals. German-Indian trade reached about 10.5 billon euros ($15.1 billion) last year.Asia's third-biggest economy has grown at an average of 8.6 percent in the past four years.
Germany has been very focused on China, she said, but India also "is a dramatically growing country" with great economic perspectives.Delegation of managers from top German companies such as industrial conglomerate Siemens AG and chemical company BASF as well as the Deutsche Bahn railroad firm on the trip to Delhi and Mumbai.

It will be Merkel's first trip to India; she has already visited another Asian economic power, China, twice during her chancellorship.