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The Federal Minister of Finance for Germany, Mr. Per Steinbrueck, today visited the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to further strengthen the business relationship between Germany and the UAE. Mr. Steinbrueck was welcomed to the DIFC by the Governor, His Excellency Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman.
The Minister was accompanied by a delegation of 12 officials from the German Ministry of Finance, including Director General Mr. Joerg Asmussen, Dr. Heiko Geue, Dr. Stefan Olbermann, Mrs. Rita Schutt, Dr. Bettina Lang, Mr. Dierk von Nettelbladt and Mrs. Sabine Burgi. Consul General Mr. Walter Leuchs and Deputy Consul General Mr. Hans-Burkhard Sauerteig also attended the meeting. The Governor of the DIFC was joined by Nasser Alshaali, Chief Executive Officer of the DIFC Authority, Assem O. Kabesh, Bisher Barazi, Marwan Lootah, Dr. Nasser Saidi, George Wittich, board director of DFSA, and Mark McGinness, International Relations Director of the DFSA.
Germany has a long history of close trade links with the UAE and in recent years increasing numbers of high level politicians and businessmen have been visiting Dubai to encourage more extensive business cooperation. A regional office of the German Business Council and a delegate office of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce have both been established in Dubai. The UAE has become one of Germany’s largest export customers in the Arab world and there are now over 300 German firms established in the UAE, including prominent names such as Siemens, Lufthansa and DaimlerChrysler.
His Excellency Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of the DIFC, said: “It is very encouraging that the Federal Government of Germany acknowledges the benefits of doing business in Dubai and we are delighted to see prestigious institutions such as Deutsche Bank and XXX firmly established in the DIFC. We are seeing increasing German participation in key sectors such as technology and finance and we hope that this invaluable contribution will continue. We would like to welcome Mr. Steinbrueck and his colleagues from the Federal Ministry of Finance and we look forward to working with them to promote ongoing commercial relations between Germany and Dubai.”
Per Steinbrueck has had a long and illustrious career in government, after studying Economics at the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel. Commencing in 1974 at the Federal Construction Ministry, Mr. Steinbrueck moved on to work at the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology before joining the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture of North Rhine/Westphalia. In the 1990s, Per went on to hold positions such as State Secretary in the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Land Development of Schleswig-Holstein, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics, Technology and Transportation of Schleswig-Holstein and Minister of Economics, Technology and Transportation of Schleswig-Holstein. In 1998, he was appointed Minister of Economics and Small Business, Technology and Transportation of North-Rhine/Westphalia and after two years he became the Finance Minister of North-Rhine/Westphalia. After taking on the role of Minister President of North-Rhine/Westphalia in 2002, Mr. Steinbrueck was assigned the post of Federal Minister of Finance in November 2005.
