Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel will deliver the inaugural Manmohan Singh memorial lecture in Delhi on February 26.The lecture will be titled “Germany and India in Times of Global Change.” The delivery of the lecture will be followed by a conversation between Merkel and Ambassador Shivshankar Menon.The programme was confirmed on Thursday by Dr Manmohan Singh Trust and family.The Tribune was the first to break the news that the late PM’s family had invited Merkel for the first lecture in his memory. The invitation was sent last year, and a formal acceptance was awaited.”A lot of thought went into the decision behind finalizing the dignitary to deliver the inaugural memorial lecture. Former German Chancellor Merkel was found to be the most suitable. A request was sent to assess her convenience and availability. The Memorial event has now been finalized,” sources familiar with the development told The Tribune today.Merkel served as chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She was the first woman to hold that office and the second-longest-serving chancellor in German history.In 2022, she accepted the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award, saying the prize was in honour of the countless people who lent a hand when large numbers of refugees arrived in Europe in 2015 and 2016.Singh, the principal architect of the Indian economic reforms of 1991, died on December 26, 2024.