Chief Executive Edmund Ho began his official visit to Germany today (13 September) in Munich, the capital of Bavaria where he met with Bavarian officials and visited two of the leading enterprises there. In the morning, Mr. Ho met with the Vice-minister of the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology, Mr. Hans Spitzer. Mr. Spitzer said that there were some 50,000 small and medium enterprises in Bavaria now and they were all keens to enter the Chinese market. Although Hong Kong and Singapore were the traditional hub for those enterprises in the Asia market, they would certainly consider Macao for the Mainland China market in the future as Macao provides the advantage of lower operation cost and an up-to-date telecommunication systems. He said that he would consider including Macao in the visit of a Bavarian trade delegation to Asia scheduled for next year. Chief Executive Edmund Ho said that all Bavarian or German enterprises were welcomed to use Macao as a platform to enter the Mainland China market, especially the Pearl River Delta and the Pan-Pearl River Delta region. At the same time, the SAR was glad to help Bavarian enterprises to set up offices in Macao to strengthen trade links. He also said that enterprises in the Pearl River Delta were moving toward the direction of high technology and the advance technological background of German enterprises would be in great demand there. Later, Mr. Ho and the delegation visited Giesecke & Devrient Co. and Siemens AG, which were contracted to develop the computer system for electronic identity card to the SAR Government. In the Afternoon, Mr. Ho had a half-hour meeting with the Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber. Premier Stoiber was briefed about the latest development of Macao and he said that Bavarian enterprises wished to enter the China Market through Macao. Mr. Ho said that Macao was developing into a service hub between foreign countries and China, especially the Pearl River Delta so the SAR was willing to help all Bavarian Enterprises to enter the China market. Tomorrow, Mr. Ho and the delegation will go to Berlin and meet with the Federal Chancellor, Mr. Gerhard Schroeder at the German capital. They will also meet with the State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Jurgen Chrobog.
