NEW DELHI: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit India from March 22 to 25 with an intention to reinforce bilateral ties between both countries.

This will be his first visit to India as the German President.

"The visit is significant as it will be the President's first visit after the new German government was sworn in yesterday," External Affairs Ministry talking head Raveesh Kumar said.

 Steinmeier will be accompanied by a delegation of top German businessmen and ideologists and will visit Varanasi and Chennai.

He had visited India a number of times in his former when he was the Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany.

The last German President to pay the visit to India was Joachim Gauck in February 2014.

"India's relationship with Germany is amongst our foremost relations, bilaterally and in the global context. After having established strategic partnership since 2000, successive governments on the two sides have endeavoured to broaden and deepen this relationship," the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement.

Germany is India's leading trading partner in Europe and the sixth biggest trading associate in the world as India ranks 24th in Germany's global trade.

"India's current priorities in most areas match with German expertise, such as renewable energy, skills development, smart city, water and waste management," the MEA added.

In 2016-17, the bilateral trade turnover between both counties was USD 18.76 billion as India exported goods worth USD 7.18 billion to Germany and imported goods worth USD 11.58 billion.