Newsroom24x7 Desk

Hanover (Germany): The Stage is all set for the inauguration of Hannover Messe 2015 or the Hanover Fair today by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be the chief speaker at the inaugural event.

The Hanover Fair will commence with the Indo-German Business Summit. During the summit Prime Minister Modi and Chancellor Merkel, along with business leaders from the two countries – India and Germany, will discuss India’s role in the global economy and its future growth perspective They will also take a close look at opportunities to strengthen Indo-German Partnership.

Hanover Fair is the world’s biggest industrial fair. It is being held from 13 to 17 April. The fair will provide an opportunity, especially to Global Business & Markets to take an in-depth look at a number of export and investment destinations, including the USA, Japan, the BRIC countries, Latin America, Africa and Europe.

The trade fair business is one of the leading service sectors of the German economy. When it comes to hosting international trade fairs, Germany is the world’s number one venue.

Germany is one of the world’s leading industrial nations. As the world’s third strongest national economy, Germany holds a leading position in terms of its total economic output. With the highest gross domestic product and the largest number of inhabitants in the European Union, it is the most important market in Europe.

In global trading of goods and services, the Federal Republic of Germany is in second place after the USA.

Germany stands out as a centre for business through

• innovative and internationally active companies,
• qualified and motivated employees,
• an internationally recognised education system,
• an excellently developed infrastructure, as well as top achievements in research and development.
• Due to its central geographical location, Germany is at the same time an interface to the new markets of Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as beyond the boundaries of the new EU.

Although German Basic Law does not prescribe any particular economic order, the embodiment of the principle of the welfare state rules out a completely “free market economy”.

Germany adheres to the principal of social market economy. It is secured by flanking market forces with social policy measures.

The model of the social market economy is designed to allow market forces free reign within certain limits and to prevent unsocial outgrowths of market development:

• The supply of goods is increased and diversified.
• The providers are motivated to be innovative.
• Income and profits are distributed based on individual performance.
• At the same time, the social market economy prevents excessive pooling of market strength, ensures participation by employees in basic economic decisions and therefore their participation in social achievements.

The task of the state and politics is to create the framework for functioning competition and to moderate the various interests.

Germany’s great competitive strength internationally is illustrated most clearly in its high level of and rapidly growing merchandise exports. The rise in direct investments in Germany by international companies also underlines the good position of the German economy.

Germany’s most important trade partners are western industrial nations. Its closest trade relations are with members of the European Union, with which Germany generates more than half of its turnover from foreign trade. Nearly 72 per cent of German exports remain within Europe; 71 per cent of German imports also come from Europe.

The most important branch of the economic activity in Germany, with traditionally a very high share of total economic production, is industry.

Alongside industry, the services sector also plays an outstanding role and it has now become almost as large as industry. A German peculiarity and traditional core of economic life is the crafts trade.

German industry is very diversified and in many sectors it is a global leader. Germany is the world’s third largest automobile producer, with more than 70 per cent of vehicles produced here intended for export. Machine and plant construction, in which most German industrial undertakings are involved, is also of outstanding international importance.