Ingo Karsten, Consul-General (CG) of the Federal Republic of Germany, said in Bangalore on Tuesday that the possibility of reaping benefits from a mutual collaboration between Kerala and Germany was quite noteworthy in a number of fields, including biotechnology, waste management, scientific research, IT, and infrastructure.

In his address to the media, Karsten – visiting Kerala for the first time after taking over as CG at the new Bangalore consulate – said that German expertise will be of immense value to Kerala for setting up wind farms, for harnessing wind energy, along its long coastline spanning 700 kms.

Expressing the opinion that offshore farms would apparently be a highly feasible option in Kerala due to scarcity of land in the State, Karsten said that he had already talked to the political leaders about the chances of an alliance between Kerala and Germany for setting up wind farms.

During the course of his visit to Kerala, Karsten has had wide-ranging discussions with the Governor, Mr M. O. H. Farooq; the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy; and the Chief Secretary, Mr P. Prabhakaran. He is also likely to meet the IT industry bosses and other business leaders.

Highlighting the team-up between the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and the National Centre for Biological Research, Bangalore, Karsten – while visiting the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology – said that the scope of the collaboration can be broadened to include “research in tropical viral diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and genetically modified foods.”