READ THE STRATEGY HERE
The Danish Government will facilitate access for Danish companies to Germany, Denmark’s largest export market, with its new Germany-strategy.
According to the government, there are still enormous, but untapped, export potentials for Danish companies in Germany.
By comparison, Denmark’s export to Sweden is 12,000 kroner per Swede. Were you to calculate export to Germany in the same way, the same number would only be 1,800 kroner per German.
Danish export to Germany is characterized by the fact that only a few large companies account for 90 percent of the export. Therefore, 5 million Kroner has been allocated specifically to help SMEs get started on the German market.
In total, nearly one-third of the total amount of funds the Danish state will make available for export promotion in 2016 and 2017 will be spent on the German market. The funds amount to 20 million Kroner over the next two years.
Strengthened presence
Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen explains how Demark is gearing up in Germany:
– As a first critical step, we will strengthen our official presence in Germany so there are more resources to assist Danish companies. In Munich, we are upgrading the Consulate to Consulate General. And we will reopen the consulate general in Hamburg, he says.
– We also want to pave the way for Danish expertise and solutions, developed in close and fruitful cooperation between the public and businesses. In several areas, Germany is in the process of transitions, which we in Denmark have already advanced. This is true in the energy sector, the health sector and the digitization agenda, he points out.
Criticism of language action
In Denmark, the German language has lost ground in favor of English over several decades. The government has also set aside a smaller sum of money for projects that will help Danish trainees in internships at German companies.
The government will also increase its focus on the need for German language classes from elementary school and up throughout the education system.
The government’s new strategy has been criticized for not being ambitious enough in re-establishing a broader knowledge of German as a key prerequisite for increasing exports to Denmark’s southern neighbour. According to Flensburg Avis the criticism comes from the University of Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Consultancy house, Mindlab Global Solutions- among others.
Both institutions want to include German as a compulsory subject in the education system once more as to counter the massive rejection of the Germ
