And let us use this journey to identify the challenges as well the opportunities that Danish exports face in our largest market.

Transcription

1 KEYNOTE SPEECH DANSK TYSK HANDELSKAMMER 23. januar 2014 Ladies and gentlemen, Warm thanks to the German Danish Chamber of Commerce for having organised today s meeting and inviting me to talk about trade between Denmark and Germany. Let us together embark on a journey with a Danish export product. It is a journey from a factory in a town in Jutland to the end user in a town in Germany. And let us use this journey to identify the challenges as well the opportunities that Danish exports face in our largest market. Danish furniture is an important export item. Let us choose a unique chair produced at a factory in the town of Fredericia. Our chair is modern, yet internationally known. It is the essence of Danish Design. It is not only high quality, but also innovative and comfortable. Before our chair leaves the factory much time has been spent on refining the design and perfecting the production. This is done in parallel in close cooperation between the designers and the skilled people in the production line. Our design chair is now packed, put on a lorry in Fredericia, and transported towards the German border. And this is where we leave our famous design chair for a moment to look at the market it is headed for: Germany. Germany is an extremely important market for us - its importance must not be underestimated. Germany is the centre of the EU Single Market; and Germany it is the focus for all of Europe. It is as simple as that. In 2012, we exported goods to Germany for almost 93 billion kroner. And we expect to reach 100 billion in 2013.That makes Germany our largest export market. Without comparison.

2 People talk a lot about how the world is changing. They say that growth to a large extent is moving to new markets far away. On these markets, Danish companies meet completely different challenges than those closer to home. And as the figures for export to Germany show, we should not forget about our traditional markets. I do not see it as an either-or. We must focus both on the emerging markets as well as on our traditional markets. When we look at our traditional markets in Europa, Germany plays a key role. And that is why I will put special emphasis on Germany in the coming year. Germany is and continues to be an important stepping stone for small and medium-sized Danish companies when they take their steps outside of Denmark. This is because the German market presents fewer barriers than the new, emerging markets. And Germany is more than an export destination. Many Danish companies are subcontractors to German companies whose products are sold to more distant markets. This means that we benefit from growth taking place far away, even when we export to our neighbour. If we increase exports to Germany - and I believe we will - it will have a huge impact. An increase of just 1 per cent will give a significant rise in our total export. Much more than can be achieved by a 1 per cent increase in our total exports to the new emerging markets. Our design chair has now crossed the Danish border with Germany. It has benefited from the Single Market and has crossed the border without any problems. One huge market. A total of 500,000 Danish jobs are linked to exports to the EU s Single Market according to the Confederation of Danish Industry. We live by it, quite simply. Without the Single Market, our companies would face a lot more red-tape, both at the border and beyond.

3 That is also why I believe Denmark must be as close to the core of Europe as possible. As an exporter of design furniture there is need to focus on design protection and other intellectual property rights, such as trademarks. Fortunately, it is already possible to register trademarks in the European Union as a whole. The community trademark system has been a huge advantage for our companies. But there is still one catch: Exporters who rely on patents and who wish to protect their rights in the EU cannot rely on common procedures. The producer has to pay no less than 270,000 kroner to achieve patent protection in all 25 Member States. This figure could be reduced to only 40,000 kroner thanks to the EU s unitary patent. With the unitary patent, it becomes possible with a single application get full patent protection in all 25 participating Member States. It will also mean no more Court cases in 25 different countries in almost as many different languages and according to different national rules. As Minister for Trade and European Affairs, I must say that the EU Unified Patent Court is all the more important for Denmark because we survive on knowledge and good ideas. Good ideas like those behind our designer chair. [Making patent protection simpler and cheaper will also strengthen Danish and German companies in the global competition with rivals from the US and China.] Better protection of our ideas means better protection of our jobs. This is why, I strongly recommend a YES in the referendum on the 25 th of May. Let me dwell a little further on EU and the benefits that both Germany and Denmark gain by working closely together in the EU. Europe has been hit hard by the financial crisis, but has also shown itself capable of responding to the crisis. The first signs of recovery are now emerging with Germany leading the way. This only confirms what I just said about the importance of the German market to Danish exporters. The EU is our common platform to advance our interests in a globalised world. Together we are stronger. This applies to the single market; it applies to patents; and it applies to many other issues of interest to our exporters.

4 A good example concerns the negotiation of a free trade agreement with the US. Such an agreement has a huge potential for creating jobs and growth. It can strengthen our companies globally by turning Europe and the US into global standard setters and by putting pressure on other global players to improve market access for our companies. Let us not forget about our design chair. It is now making good progress through Northern Germany. This is an area where Danish exports are doing really well. On the Autobahn through Germany, our chair passes a great number of Danish companies that have set up offices in Northern Germany in order to be both close to headquarters in Denmark and at the same established in the important German market. But after a few hours on the Autobahn, our design chair crosses a type of border that is more difficult to describe than the Danish-German border. It is situated slightly south of Hanover. We have been used to thinking of Germany as being divided between east and west. But in today s Germany, the division between north and south is actually more pronounced Some of the Danish companies with offices in Northern Germany are realizing that selling to the entire German market from there is difficult. Southern Germany is different from Northern Germany. Not in terms of wealth and resources. But the culture is different; the consumer preferences are different; and the way of doing business is different. It is difficult to explain, but I am sure you know what I am talking about. So what is the point of sending our chair down there? Well, it is to benefit from the high economic growth in Southern Germany.It is a special boom region. And when the economy is booming, it is only natural that people want the best. In particular when it comes to design furniture. And in Denmark we produce the best furniture!

5 But even if it is the best, our chair is now really far from home. It has now reached an area where people prefer different designs and types of furniture. And that is at the outset a challenge. Our chair that has been designed for a different taste may now be in need of some assistance. And in this case, it is a good thing that we have more resources to draw on. The Trade Council in Germany stands ready to help Danish companies understand the market also in Southern Germany and offers strategic advice on positioning, pricing, marketing and partners. Southern Germany is also a centre for science and technology. We therefore opened an innovation centre in Munich in 2008, which helps Danish researchers and companies connect with international partners. Finally, if our exporter needs help to secure financing for his projects, the Danish Export Credit Agency might help.the Export Credit Agency was recently transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a part of my portfolio. So with the good assistance of the Trade Council and the Export Credit Agency, our design chair has been helped on its way in the challenging Southern German region. And we will do everything in our power to help it succeed. Last week the right wing opposition in Denmark accused the Danish Government of focusing our efforts too much on the emerging markets at the expense of our traditional markets including Germany. Fortunately that is very far from the truth. In fact, we are in the middle of developing new initiatives for the German market. In this connection, we will have a special focus on Southern Germany. I plan to visit Germany in March where I will also go to Southern Germany to promote more Danish exports to that part of the country. Before my trip to Germany, we will present an export action plan for the German market. The plan will include initiatives to strengthen Danish commercial activities in Germany. We will focus on Danish strongholds and pay particular attention to the small and medium-sized companies. Through joint efforts, our design chair has now left the shop and found a good home in Southern Germany where it will live happily ever after. And over time, it will become the preferred piece of furniture for our new south German customers. And here it might be suitable to end the story. For this was a true story of an export adventure.