(Frankfurt, Germany - June 29, 2023) The German-Korean Business and Investment Summit, co-organized by the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI, President & CEO Martin Henkelmann), the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK Frankfurt am Main) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) concluded successfully, marking a milestone in the bilateral economic ties between Germany and Korea.
Supported by Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and German Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV), this two-day conference, held at IHK Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on June 28 and 29, brought together about 300 business leaders, governmental officials, and industry experts from both nations to explore opportunities, foster collaboration and strengthen economic relationships.
In celebration of the 140th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Germany and South Korea, the summit featured distinguished speakers including Udo Philipp, German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Hong Kyun Kim, South Korean Ambassador to Germany, Ulrich Caspar, President of the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jeoung-Yeol Yu, President & CEO of KOTRA, Holger Gerrmann, Chairperson of KGCCI, Martin Henkelmann, President & CEO of KGCCI, Volker Treier, Chief Executive of Foreign Trade, Member of the Executive Board of DIHK.
Under the theme of “Taking the bilateral relations to the next level,” the conference covered a wide range of topics including △Securing Global Supply Chains △Promoting Strategies for a Digital Future △Advocating for Renewable Energy Solutions △Investing in mutual cooperation, innovation and market presence. Industry leaders of companies and policy institutions such as Martin Kueppers, CEO of Continental Automotive Korea Ltd. David Jones, Head of Offshore Development & Country Manager, RWE Renewables Korea, and Lars Kissau, President of Net Zero Accelerator, BASF SE, Julia Jonas, Ecosystem Management Siemens Industrial Edge, Siemens, Johann Schwenk, Senior Expert Governmental Affairs & Funding, Webasto Group, Thorsten Clajus, Head Integrated Supply Chain Specialty Gases at Merck Group, Dirk Pieler, Executive Vice President Business Unit Industry Solutions, Rittal GmbH & Co. KG, Patric Kleineidam, Head of Product Onshore Renewables, Tractebel Engineering GmbH, Thomas Altenmüller, Vice President Manufacturing Analytics Infineon Technologies AG, and Anja Simon, CEO for Labs Network Industrie 4.0 e.V shared valuable insights and participated in panel discussions. The event also included special lectures and workshops addressing EU regulatory framework and ESG challenges.
Holger Gerrmann, Chairperson of KGCCI and CEO of Porsche Korea, highlighted the strong partnership between Germany and South Korea, stating “As ‘value’ and ‘valued’ partners, we have been successfully growing together and building our mutual trust over decades. Based on this, we jointly address many of the challenges that our companies face. German investment in Korea and Korean investment in Germany can play an important role to diversify supply chains, and our answer to more protectionism must be the modernization of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement making it an FTA 2.0.”
With Germany being South Korea's largest trading partner in the European Union (EU) and South Korea ranking as Germany's third largest trading partner in Asia, the bilateral trade volume has reached approximately $34 billion in 2022, representing 25% of the total Korea-EU trade volume, as reported by Korea International Trade Association.
