Foreign Trade and Investment Campaign

Providing political support for the international economic activities of German companies

• The Ministry's political support for the international economic activities of German firms will place a central priority on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and international trips by the Minister and his State Secretaries will give particular consideration to SMEs. We will also work together with business associations in exploring ways to help SMEs participate in bids for larger contracts.
• We want to attract the world's best minds to Germany by providing for the open and non-bureaucratic recognition of diplomas and qualifications obtained abroad.

• We will take action to foster the mobilisation of German industry during the run-up to major sporting events. For example, security technology was one of the main topics on the agenda for Federal Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle's visit to Brazil (host of the 2014 World Cup) in April 2010.

• We intend to support German companies on markets with major economic potential, and we aim to identify and act on forward-looking trends. To this end, we will pool our foreign trade and investment activities in accordance with specific thematic priorities. Key steps will include:

  • creating an export-oriented component as part of our national platform for electric mobility, and organising an international electric mobility conference in 2011;
  • formulating a policy framework in 2010 to promote foreign trade and investment in the health care industry;
  • launching a security technology export initiative;
  • providing political support for the acquisition efforts of Germany's defence industry in compliance with export rules;
  • providing continuous support for the aerospace industry's activities in growth markets. We will press forward with the worldwide marketing of earth remote sensing data and services, particularly with a view toward the innovation and market potential of the future Galileo satellite navigation system;
  • placing an even stronger emphasis on forward-looking energy supply systems as a central component of our external economic policy and expanding these efforts into a genuine "external energy policy". In this connection, we will press forward with our export initiatives for renewable energy and energy efficiency to boost the export and dissemination of German technology on foreign markets;
  • boosting exports of cultural and creative products and services and enhancing international awareness and recognition of what Germany's cultural and creative industries have to offer. To this end, our existing set of instruments to promote foreign trade and investment will target this sector more effectively, and these activities will be conducted in cooperation with the German government's Centre of Excellence for the Cultural and Creative Industries;
  • targeting knowledge-intensive sectors such as pharmaceutical technology, biotechnology, medical technology and environmental technology.
• We will establish procurement information centres in cities where United Nations offices are located, in order to better assist German companies participating in the procurement processes of international organisations.