Successful Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business in Singapore

More than 770 registered delegates attended the 12^th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business in Singapore between 13^th to 15^th May 2010. The event is chaired by the German Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Mr Rainer Bruederle and by Dr Juergen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE. For many companies, Asia is the growth region and compensates for stagnating sales figures in other regions and markets. Hence, the dialogue with Asian partners from politics and business on the topics of Partnership, Innovation and Sustainability was set up at the right time in the right place.

“Asia is booming – providing a huge opportunity for German companies. For we offer what Asia needs. The more Asia develops into a high-tech region the better we can enhance our standing with our innovativeness, our long-term engagement as well as the corporate responsibility which we practice,” underlined Jürgen Hambrecht, during one of his speeches. “Solutions for the challenges of the future can only be developed in partnership. This is why it is so important to not talk about but with Asia.”

Next to several panel discussions among ASEAN Ministers from eight countries, a dialogue session between Asian and European business people and a panel of German Ambassadors in five key markets,  eight forums on specialised topics completed the two-day conference programme. One of the most important outcomes of these discussions is an enhanced self-esteem by Asian economies, which managed the recent financial crisis with mature regulatory systems. Also the German perspective has changed over the years. German companies are well established in many Asian markets and hence, the co-operation between businesses and politics are also more mature than a decade ago. Germany is an important business partner to Asia and is well respected by Asian partners. Minister Rainer Bruederle therefore concluded at the end of the conference: “As a strong partner to Asia, German business plays a key role in helping to master the challenges the region presents. My colleagues from the ASEAN countries have noted this important signal with great  interest, particularly in the present difficult economic situation in Europe“.

Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. 98% of delegates thought that it was easy or very easy to obtain information on the conference and 97% answered that that the conference was very helpful or helpful in terms of networking and making business contacts. More than 80% considered the panel discussions and forums as informative and helpful. 22% rated the content of the Forums very relevant for their work, 58% think content was relevant and 20% think it was slightly relevant. Finally, almost 79% of participants would attend another APK.

The event is organized every 2.5 years in different Asian countries. Main organisers are the Chambers

of Commerce Abroad, the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Germany. In Singapore, the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce was the local host and managed the operational organisation.

For concluding remarks by the conference chairs, a summary of all panels and forums, participants statistics and survey results please have a look at the APK Report.

SGC, 22.06.2010