2/6/2008

Annual meeting of Bavarian foreign representatives / Economics Minister Müller underscores contribution made by representations in boosting exports and encouraging foreign companies to set up facilities in Bavaria

Müller: “20 representative offices support Bavaria’s business community worldwide”

MUNICH  Whether it is in the USA, Japan, China, India, Russia, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates or in many other important countries: Bavaria has built up a worldwide network of successful representative offices that help small and medium-sized Bavarian companies in particular to open up vital foreign markets. “Our 20 representations make a major contribution to ensuring that Bavaria’s business community can hold its own efficiently and successfully in the global market. With the opening of new representations in the Czech Republic at the beginning of July 2007 and in Vietnam early this January we are now represented in all the most important Bavarian growth markets. No other German state has such a dense network of foreign representative offices,” Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Emilia Müller, underlined at the annual meeting of Bavarian foreign representatives being held this week in Munich and Wildbad Kreuth.
 
Bavarian industry is benefiting greatly from the offices of the State of Bavaria all over the world. Müller: “The representatives are available to Bavarian companies as on-the-spot contact addresses, offering expert advice especially when it comes to market development and arranging business contacts. In this way, they make it easier for the companies to enter interesting export markets.”

Besides promoting foreign trade, the representations practice active location marketing for the State of Bavaria. In collaboration with ‘Invest in Bavaria’ and the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, they acquire and support foreign investors. “The fact that this cooperation produces outstanding results is confirmed by last year’s record number of new businesses set up by foreign companies in Bavaria. The representative Toshio Obata in Japan alone succeeded in convincing 14 Japanese firms that Bavaria was a top technological location. Another 12 recruitments are managed by John Kottayil as the representative in India and a total of 30 new businesses could be secured for Bavaria with the help of the representatives Dagmar Cassan in New York and Lucie Merkle in Palo Alto,” Economics Minister Müller added.

With an estimated export volume of over € 150 billion, Bavaria set its 14th export record in succession in 2007. According to Müller, the steady growth in Bavarian exports as well as the development of investments by foreign companies in Bavaria demonstrate that the State is on the right track with its proactive foreign trade and location policy: “Last year showed that we were excellently placed in the world with our extensive network of foreign representations. We will consistently pursue this course in the future as well and continuously develop cooperation with our representatives.”

Source: Invest in Bavaria