The balance of the global economy has changed, leading to changing conditions for co-operation with our partners in the Asia-Pacific region. This applies both in the political and in the economic spheres.

These changes bring new tasks and challenges for the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business. German companies enjoy an excellent reputation in the Asia-Pacific region. We are known for our reliability but we also need to position ourselves as trusted partners to face the tasks ahead. One of the strong points of Germany as a high-tech economy is innovation, and we must bring that to the fore. Another is our specific know-how in environmental technologies allied with our deep interest in sustainable co-operation and development. We offer these strengths to our partners in Asia-Pacific in a spirit of fair co-operation. Partnership relies on reciprocity – and when that is the case, it is not inconsistent with competition.