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AmCham EU delegation attends Hannover Messe
On Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 April, Karl Cox, Chairman, AmCham EU, Susan Danger, Managing Director, AmCham EU, and a delegation of AmCham EU members attended the Hannover Messe, the world’s largest trade fair for industrial technology. For the first time in its history, the Messe was run with the US as the lead partner country, and many AmCham EU member companies were present at the exhibition.
In Hannover, the AmCham EU delegation met with Sigmar Gabriel, Vice Chancellor of Germany and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy and Bruce Andrews, US Deputy Secretary of Commerce. Susan Danger and Claudia Selli, Vice-Chair of the TTIP Task Force, also attended a small roundtable discussion with Penny Pritzker, US Secretary of Commerce.
As President Obama stressed at the opening ceremony of the Hannover Messe, ‘[t]he time to complete T-TIP is now, and I’m here to say that the United States is prepared to make every effort to reach an ambitious, comprehensive, and high-standard agreement this year’. The ceremony set the tone for the policy conversations that took place in the sidelines of the exhibition, which focused heavily on the trade deal, but also on the digitisation of industry initiative led by Commissioner Oettinger. The Messe was a key priority for the EU and the US, with high-level officials from both sides travelling to Germany for the occasion, including four EU Commissioners.
Additionally, AmCham EU met with Tom Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and representatives of fellow American Chambers of Commerce in Europe. Susan Danger also visited the stands of many member companies exhibiting at the fair.