Rebecca Evans MS, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
Last week I travelled to Germany to attend the MEDICA, one of the world’s largest medical trade fairs, held yearly in Düsseldorf. The Welsh Government’s Trade and Germany teams supported more than 30 companies from Wales’ thriving life sciences industry to attend this event to enable these innovative and exciting businesses to showcase their products and services to a global audience. The visit also provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen Wales’ ties with key contacts in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia.
On Monday 11 November, I met Nick Russell, British Consul-General in Düsseldorf, who provided an overview of the current political and economic context in North Rhine-Westphalia, the region with the highest number of German companies operating in Wales. During this meeting, we also discussed how to work together with the UK Government to further promote Wales.
I also attended MEDICA where I met the Welsh companies attending and exhibiting at the Wales Pavilion. Over 30 companies and more than 50 delegates from the life sciences sector travelled to Düsseldorf as part of the Welsh Government trade mission. This year’s delegation was the largest Welsh presence at the trade fair since the pandemic, and the largest Welsh Government overseas trade delegation for this year. At the event I also had the chance to meet the Director of MEDICA, Christian Grosser.
In the afternoon I opened a networking reception and had the pleasure of addressing our Welsh companies and guests at the trade fair. This provided the opportunity to highlight the importance of exporting and the support available to Welsh companies. It also enabled trade mission delegates to network with contacts and stakeholders in market.
In the evening, we hosted a dinner with the British Consul-General in Düsseldorf for key contacts from North Rhine-Westphalia which allowed us to demonstrate Wales’ future intentions and engagement with regional government, industry and key intermediaries, as well as to reaffirm Wales’ commitment to sustainability, the circular economy, gender equality and future generations.
On the morning of Tuesday 12 November my last engagement in Germany was a visit to WEPA in Arnsberg-Müschede, one of the leading suppliers of household paper, with a facility in Wales employing approximately 350 people in Bridgend.