Photo taken on April 12, 2021 shows a screen displaying a website page of Hanover Messe 2021 Digital Edition in Berlin, capital of Germany. This year's Hanover Messe under the headline "Industrial Transformation" would showcase what factories, energy systems and supply chains of the future would look like, according to the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fair kicked off on Monday digitally and will run until Friday. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)
BERLIN, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The German industry entered the Hanover Messe with an optimistic forecast and is expecting industrial production in 2021 to increase by 8 percent compared to the previous year, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) announced on Monday.
"Foreign trade is becoming a key growth lever -- particularly with the economic locomotives the United States and China," said BDI President Siegfried Russwurm on Monday at the start of the Hanover Messe, one of the world's largest trade fairs.
This year's Hanover Messe under the headline "Industrial Transformation" would showcase what factories, energy systems and supply chains of the future would look like, according to the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fair is held digitally and will run until Friday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during her speech at the Hanover Messe on Monday that further economic development would crucially depend on controlling infections as quickly as possible and called for joint action around the world to combat the pandemic.
"Even a rapid vaccination of our population is no guarantee that further virus mutations will not spread worldwide, against which our vaccines will then be less or no longer effective," said Merkel.
"Hanover Messe 2021 Digital Edition is an important signal in times that are not easy," said Minister for Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier in a statement. More than 1,500 program features on the industrial transformation process would "rightly set sail for the future."
On the opening day, Germany and the fair's partner country Indonesia virtually signed a memorandum of understanding on a bilateral dialogue on quality infrastructure. BMWi noted that the goals of the German-Indonesian talks were to "reduce technical trade barriers and strengthen consumer protection and product safety." Enditem
