The News9 Global Summit Germany Edition 2025 brought India and Germany together once again in the MHP Arena on 9 October. Hosts TV9, in conjunction with fellow organisers VfB Stuttgart and with the support of the Baden-Württemberg state government, created a unique platform for international cooperation on a number of levels, as they had done the previous year. Highly interesting panel discussions, inspiring keynote speeches and top decision-makers from the worlds of politics, finance, science, education and culture from both countries featured at the summit, which also marked 25 years of strategic partnership between India and Germany. Topics such as global trade, security innovations and digitisation were discussed from a multinational perspective, with plenty of examples for successful cooperation between the two countries provided.
High-calibre participants
TV9 CEO Barun Das, VfB Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Rouven Kasper and Florian Hassler, Baden-Württemberg’s State Secretary for Political Coordination and Europe, welcomed a wide variety of high-ranking participants and guests to the summit. These included Uday Samant, Finance Minister for Baden-Württemberg’s Indian partner state Maharashtra, India’s ambassador to Germany Ajit Gupte, Baden-Württemberg’s Finance Minister Dr Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, former EU commissioner and former Minister President Günther H. Oettinger, CEO of MHP India Bernd-Otto Hörmann, and Dr Alexander Schellong, Managing Director of Cybersecurity at Schwarz Digits. EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic, German’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Health Minister Nina Warken, and Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were also involved remotely in the summit.
A pre-opening dinner was held on the night before the summit at the Porsche Tunnel Club in the MHP Arena, with Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Winfried Kretschmann underlining the significance of dialogue between Germany and India. This was followed by a gala evening in Stuttgart’s New Palace, where VfB President Dietmar Allgaier spoke of the successful cooperation between the two nations and of VfB Stuttgart’s role building bridges between the countries and their respective cultures.
The start of future cooperations
“Baden-Württemberg and Stuttgart have once again held a successful News9 Global Summit, which will help to bring India and Germany even closer together,” said Kasper. “As co-initiators and co-hosts, we are delighted that this international summit has followed on seamlessly from the successful opening edition last year. Cooperation with India is of critical importance for our economy and where we live, and as such it is also crucial for us at VfB Stuttgart, and this summit again made this point incredibly clear. I would like to thank Barun Das and the entire TV9 network and the Baden-Württemberg state government for coming together to help to cement and develop this unique format in Stuttgart, and gratefully acknowledge the support and cooperation from the strong partners that VfB is fortunate to have.”
