Germany woos Indian tech workers

BANGALORE, MAY 18: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on Wednesday the opposition Christian Democrats were coming around to agre...

BANGALORE, MAY 18: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on Wednesday the opposition Christian Democrats were coming around to agreeing to allow computer specialists from outside the EU to work in Germany.

quot;The Christian Democrats know very well that these old fashioned positions from the past were a mistake and it was a key element in their defeat in regional elections,quot; Fischer, a member the junior coalition partners the Greens, told reporters in the southern Indian city.

quot;I got reports today that they are rethinking their position and will now have a rational, consensus-oriented debate and we should finalise this green card issue by the beginning of August.quot; Fischer was in India8217;s technology capital as part of a two-day official visit to India that concludes in New Delhi on Thursday.

The German foreign Minister, backed by voter support for the ruling Social Democratic Party SPD plan to allow foreign computer specialists in a key state election on Sunday, went on a whistle-stop tour of leading Bangalore software firms on the global technology map.

German officials and businessmen travelling with Fischer said Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder8217;s plan to award U.S.-Style quot;green cardquot; work permits to 20,000 computer specialists 8212; a large portion are expected to be Indians 8212; was now just quot;weeks awayquot;.

Schroeder8217;s plan had drawn fire from a top opposition conservative at home who said Indian workers could take away jobs from Germans. Germany8217;s scandal-ravaged conservative opposition tried to tap anti-immigrant sentiment in the run-up to last week8217;s election in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Juergen Ruettgers, the leading conservative candidate in the state, fuelled the controversy by coining the slogan quot;Kinder statt Inderquot; Children, not Indians in a bid to mobilise voters against the Schroeder plan.

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Schroeder8217;s SPD however emerged as the largest party fromthe poll on Sunday with 43 percent of the votes against 37 percent for Ruettgers8217;s Christian Democrats.

Fischer said that he had discussions with some leaders in India8217;s technology industry including Azim Premji, chairman of sector leader Wipro Ltd, and the richest Indian. quot;Premji suggested that Germany could issue business visas valid for 18 months instead of the present three months,quot; a Wipro statement said.

Fischer said that Europe would be a key market for computer professionals and it was in India8217;s interest to have a presence there. quot;For young experts it is very important to have a broad experience of different markets and their desires and needs. So I think this is the major issue which can bring people to Germany,quot; he said.

Representatives of German industries earlier said that Germany would have to contend with the desire of Indian tech professionals to work in the United States which only last week proposed to nearly double the number of temporary visas granted to skilled workers to 200,000 over the next three years. Reuters