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The Week in Germany: Business, Technology and the Environment

July 13, 2007

Germany Invests in Arab Modernization Efforts

German business has moved to respond to rapid changes in Arab countries that have been pursuing massive modernization programs in areas such as infrastructure, education, and the environment. The nation's trade with the region is outpacing trade between Europe's biggest economy and the other booming parts of the world.

"Germany is a model and a door to Europe for the Arab world," the Federation of Egyptian Chamber of Commerce President Mohamed el-Masri told a German-Arab Business Forum in Berlin Thursday.

El-Masri told those attending the three-day forum, "Germany is the most important trade partner of the Arab world."

In particular, nations across the Arab world have been drawing in German expertise in infrastructure development, as revenue from soaring oil prices helps to underpin the region's modernization drive.

German exports to the Arab world surged by 16 percent last year, with Germany's total trade with the region hitting a record of 21.5 billion euros (30 billion dollars) and growing at a faster pace than the nation's trade with the booming economies of Asia and Latin America.

Exports from Germany to Arab nations raced ahead by another 20 percent during the first quarter, as many oil-producing nations move to invest in their booming energy sectors and to bring their infrastructure into line with more advanced countries.

Saudi Arabia alone plans to invest a massive 624 billion dollars over the next two decades.

Underscoring the ties between Germany and the Middle East, more than 800 German and Arab businessmen turned up for this year's German-Arab business forum, which was more than double the number of participants registered for the annual conference about 10 years ago.

Organized by the Arab German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the forum this year marks its tenth anniversary. German investment in the region has more than doubled in those ten years.

"That is positive evidence of the relationship" said Martin Wansleben, DIHK's executive director opening the forum which has a special focus this year on Algeria.

After chalking up an economic growth rate of 5 per cent in recent years and buoyed by the recent rise in oil prices, the government in Algiers has launched a 144-billion-dollar growth strategy.

This includes modernization of key public services such as schools and hospitals as well as improvements in the transport and energy sectors, and the country is looking to Germany for support in all of those areas.

German investment was particularly attractive to Arab countries, el-Masri said, because it often provided integrated solutions to the region's needs, drawing together plans for improvements in areas such as infrastructure, the environment and vocational training. (dpa)

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