Mumbai, Apr 4 (Agency) Newly appointed Consul of Germany in Mumbai, Ekim Fabig on Tuesday said that, Germany faces a shortage of at least 4 lakh trained manpower with various skills every year and Germany has high expectations from Maharashtra, which has a young population, to meet this requirement. Ekim Fabig, who previously served as Consul in Chennai, has been appointed as Consul of Germany in Mumbai and on Monday he had a goodwill meeting with Governor Ramesh Bais at Raj Bhavan Mumbai. Germany urgently needs nurses, electricians, hospitality sector professionals, solar utility technicians, etc., and during his tenure in Mumbai, Fabig said that he would focus on combining Germany’s skill needs with India’s manpower availability.
He said that 800 German companies are working in India today, out of which at least 300 companies are in Pune and one third of the total foreign direct investment from Germany is coming to Maharashtra alone. Fabig also said that the German companies working in Maharashtra are satisfied. Germany has invested 500 million euros for metro projects in Mumbai and Nagpur. Today, 35,000 Indian students are studying in Germany and a large number of Indians are working in the IT sector. 17000 Indian IT technicians are living in Berlin alone. He said that Germany needs 200 nurses this year and for that purpose an agreement has been signed with a nursing college in Kerala. Apart from increasing economic and political ties with India, Germany is keen to facilitate travel for Indians, cultural cooperation and especially film industry, he said. He said that Germany’s visa section in Mumbai is the third largest in the world and soon it will become the largest visa section in the world, he added.