Good news: In the coming year, companies from Germany will be supported with an expanded programme at trade fairs abroad. Compared to the initial plans from early summer, the foreign trade fair programme (AMP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics has now been expanded by 25 participations. This means that 252 trade fair participations are now planned in over 50 countries. The Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) is coordinating the programme for the exhibiting industry. All AMP trade fairs are now available on the AUMA website.
As in previous years, the programme's most important target region in 2025 will be the Asian markets: More than 90 joint participations by German companies will be supported there. Another target region of the programme is North America with almost 40 participation opportunities, followed by the Near and Middle East with 34 and Africa with 26 participations. 35 German Pavilions are planned at trade fairs in Europe, including eleven outside the European Union. More than 20 participations are planned in Latin America and six in Australia/Oceania.
The three most important countries in the foreign trade fair programme are the USA with 33 participations, China and the United Arab Emirates with 26 each and India with 18. Four countries share fourth place with eight participations: Thailand, Brazil, South Africa and Turkey. Saudi Arabia is increasingly becoming a target country for the German economy: seven participations are planned in Riyadh alone, five of which are included in the programme for the first time.
German mechanical engineering will receive special attention next year. A guest country participation is planned at the trade fair for agriculture, livestock breeding and food packaging agrofood Nigeria and the parallel international trade fair for the plastics, printing and packaging industry plastprintpack in Lagos, Nigeria. The dates are 25 to 27 March. Another guest country participation on the initiative of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) is planned at the Extemin mining trade fair in Arequipa/Peru from 22 to 26 September.
In the case of trade fairs sponsored by the AMP, the federal government bears around 50 per cent of the direct trade fair costs, with the exhibiting company bearing the rest. Studies show that participation in foreign trade fairs boosts German exports enormously, which in turn secures production, jobs and taxes in Germany. In figures: 1 tax euro of investment generates around 216 euros of added value.
The funds for the foreign trade fair programme in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWK) amount to around 44 million euros. In view of global cost increases, AUMA is calling for the budget to be increased by five million euros to 49 million euros. This is the only way to maintain the quality of German pavilions.
