A special AHK evening in Sydney hosting Dr Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary, and her delegation to Australia
On Tuesday, 4 April, the German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce was delighted to host an evening reception for Dr Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and her delegation at the Museum of Sydney, in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.
Dr Franziska Brantner has had an active political career, both as a member of the European Parliament (2009-2013) and Member of the German Bundestag (Parliament) since 2013. Furthermore, Dr Brantner has played an active role on the Supervisory Board for Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) and the recently established German Federal Agency for Disruptive Innvoation (Agentur für Sprunginnovationen). In her function as Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic and Climate Action, Dr Brantner closely works in partnership with the Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck.
The evening event was part of a several days trip by Dr Brantner and her delegation to both Sydney and Perth, to discuss potential collaboration and expansion of cooperation with Australian government and business representatives. The main discussion points were the development of hydrogen as a future energy fuel and the expansion of critical minerals trade between the two countries. The delegation included 16 German enterprises who are primarily active in the Energy and Critical Minerals sector and who seek to invest and collaborate with Australian partners in the sustainable energy resources industry.
The evening started with a welcome by the Chamber's Executive Director, Dr Gabriele Rose, and a short networking event amongst the AHK members. Following the arrival of the German delegation and representatives from Austrade and Investment NSW, guests were asked to gather in the auditorium to attend to Dr Brantner's and Dr Gabriele Rose's remarks regarding the present and future of German-Australian business relations. The speeches were followed by a panel Q&A, moderated by Dr Gabriele Rose, with three members from AHK, including Andritz, LAVO and Remondis having the opportunity to share their successes and challenges in the Australian market.
Following the conclusion of the panel, the AHK, in conjunction with Dr Brantner and German Ambassador and Patron of the Chamber, Dr Markus Ederer, was honoured to witness the official contract signing between LAVO and Wilo Group, to strengthen their collaboration on hydrogen storage technologies. LAVO and WILO have agreed to use their respective strengths to jointly develop, commercialise, and deploy hydrogen storage systems. As a first step in their joint venture, LAVO’s innovative hydrogen storage technology, which uses patent pending metal hydride, will be integrated into WILO’s green hydrogen plant in Dortmund, Germany. The evening was concluded by a further networking opportunity amongst the Chamber's members and the German delegation.
A special thank you goes to Andritz for kindly sponsoring the evening reception and to our members LAVO, Remondis for their pro-active participation in the evenings event. As a Chamber, we look forward to further facilitating and supporting the discussions amongst the participants that took place during Dr Brantner's delegation visit to Australia, both in business and governmental forums. Dr Brantner's visit to Australia highlights the growing importance of the Australian market for the German industry and what significant potential is available for the German-Australian political and economic relationship to grow and prosper.
A collection of pictures of this evening can be found here.
(This report was prepared by Vincent Nittel, Customer Success and Governmental Affairs Consultant)