German foreign minister to meet Piyush Goyal, NATO’s Rutte after postponing China trip

BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul will meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and other senior policymakers during his trip to Brussels, which starts on Monday, a spokesman for his ministry said.

The visit comes after Wadephul postponed a trip to China scheduled to begin Sunday, with Beijing agreeing to only one of the meetings it had requested, in a sign of growing tensions with Berlin over trade and security.

The German foreign ministry spokesman said that Wadephul will also meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Trade Commissioner Sefcovic and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas during his visit to Brussels.
“The focus of consultations with representatives of the EU and NATO, the organizations that bring together our most important and closest partners and allies, will be the continued support for Ukraine and Europe’s security and defense capabilities,” the spokesman said. he said.

Another focus of the talks will be international trade issues, including prospects and potential solutions to ensure smooth supplies of key raw materials, particularly rare earths and computer chips, two areas subject to bottlenecks.

The spokesman said Indian Goyal was in Brussels for trade policy talks. The EU and India are working to meet a year-end deadline for signing a free trade agreement.