Press release from 30.05.2007
State government wants to attract more foreign investors to NRW with NRW.INVEST
- NRW.INVEST focuses on intensifying direct acquisition
- NRW increases activities in the USA, China, India, and Turkey
Düsseldorf, 30 May 2007 – NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Christa Thoben today presented the state's new economic development agency, NRW.INVEST GmbH, formerly Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftsförderung NRW. In the future, the agency, which was renamed on 1 May 2007, will concern itself solely with the acquisition and support of foreign companies and international marketing for NRW as a business location.
The Minister took advantage of the official opening of the new premises of NRW.INVEST to present the location results for the year 2006. Last year, the then GfW NRW located over 70 companies, which created approx. 1,000 jobs. The Minister welcomed the results, but at the same made it clear that the bar is to be raised in the future. "With the repositioned NRW.INVEST GmbH we expect additional stimuli for NRW as a business location", she said.
Peter Glaessel, management spokesman of NRW.INVEST, explained how this goal is to be achieved in the coming years. Prospective investors are to be approached even more systematically in the future through direct acquisition. In an extensive analysis, NRW.INVEST has described a total of ten industries in which NRW is particularly competitive. The agency is currently working jointly with local specialists on detailed analyses of five of these industries and selected locations in NRW. On the basis of these analyses, NRW.INVEST then intends to approach selected foreign companies with specially tailored offers. Glaessel, who spent over 30 years working abroad for a large corporation and was involved in location decisions from a company's point of view, added that this is a genuine change in strategy in the acquisition of foreign investors. He is confident this will lead to a significant increase in location results for NRW.INVEST in the coming years.
At the same time, however, NRW.INVEST is also employing tried and tested methods. Investors who approach NRW.INVEST on their own initiative are supported by the agency in customary fashion, regardless of which country or industry they come from. The worldwide branch offices of NRW.INVEST are also a key factor in the acquisition of investors, as emphasized by Petra Wassner, Managing Director of NRW.INVEST GmbH. The representation in Tokyo, for example, made a major contribution to NRW's becoming the leading location on the European continent for Japanese investors. A similar development is currently taking place in China. Thanks to the local representative office and intensive acquisition measures, NRW is becoming an important location for Chinese companies. With some 400 companies in the state, the number of Chinese companies has quadrupled over the past three years. This prompted NRW.INVEST to open a further branch office in Shanghai.
Furthermore, the agency intends to increase its personnel at the representation in the USA. Peter Glaessel underlined that the USA is the world's largest investor. There is still potential here for direct acquisition.
The state of NRW also intends to establish a presence in the growth markets India and Turkey. The growing involvement of these national economies in the global economy is expected to result in a considerable increase in foreign investments, says Petra Wassner.
Further Info:NRW.INVEST GmbH
Economic Development Agency
of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Annette Peis, Marketing Devision
Völklinger Str. 4
40219 Düsseldorf
Phone: +49 (0) 211-130 00 162
Fax: +49 (0) 211-130 00 154
E-Mail:
Peis@nrwinvest.com
