Europe will "emerge even stronger" from the current economic crisis, said German Ambassador Michael Steiner here.
In a globalised world, distances do not matter any more and there is need to revise old notions based on geographic maps, said Ambassador Steiner while addressing diplomats at an event Thursday evening.
Touching on the eurozone debt crisis, Steiner said "Europe's fundamentals are pretty strong" and marked by "unprecedented integration" of the European countries.
"We have already achieved a lot, in terms of reduction in deficits -- from average of 6.3 percent in 2009 to 3.3 percent in 2012. Competitiveness has been improved. More importantly, the structural reforms of the Eurozone, including the fiscal pact and the European Stability Mechanism, would help safeguard financial stability," he said.
"Europe will emerge even stronger from this crisis," he stressed.
Young and brimming over with enthusiasm, diplomats from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and many other countries met here at an alumni gathering of the Training for International Diplomats programme run by the German government.
The training programme has since 1992 trained over 2,500 diplomats from foreign countries, including India.
Steiner said the network of alumni is at the forefront of bringing about a change in global mindset.
The Training for International Diplomats has trained 120 diplomats from Afghanistan so far, the highest among the 177 participating countries, followed by 104 from China. From India, 46 diplomats have been trained under the programme.
--Indo-Asian News service
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