German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Indian IT workers to consider working in the European country as he announced plans to simplify the visa process for them.
The impassioned appeal by Scholz, who wrapped up his two-day visit to India in the southern city of Bengaluru on Sunday, comes as the country faces an acute labor shortage, especially in the fields of pharmacy and information technology (IT).
The chancellor said Germany needed skilled workers to meet the demand for software development in the country, and promised to modernize bureaucratic procedures and legal requirements to make it easier for workers and their families to come to Germany.
He, however, did not give any further details on how many workers Germany hopes to attract from India.
“I am quite sure that many people would like to take advantage of the opportunities to work in Germany as skilled workers,” Scholz told reporters after a roundtable discussion with workers from software company SAP Labs India in Bengaluru.
“We need this in all areas of employment, but certainly especially when it comes to skills like the ones we’ve seen today in software and IT development,” Scholz was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
He said Germany was already in the process of relaxing language requirements to make the German-speaking country a more attractive destination for IT professionals, who have traditionally gravitated towards English-speaking countries.
“It is clear that someone who comes to Germany as an IT specialist can easily converse with all their colleagues in English at first because many people in Germany can speak English,” said Scholz, German later. Can be learned, DW reported.
“A lot of reform proposals have already been collected and we are continuing to work on them,” Scholz said.
In the final leg of his trip, Scholz visited several IT firms in Bengaluru and praised India’s “booming” software development sector.
Scholz also said that around 1,800 German companies are active in India and have provided thousands of jobs.