Cologne, Germany - Services, such as product testing, legal
advice or translation, are playing a growing role in Germany-Japan
trade, according to experts in Cologne on Thursday.
'This involves a huge market and a growing section of it,' said
Kerstin Teicher, chief executive of the Dusseldorf-based DJW Germany-
Japan Business Club, after a conference attended by 200 specialists.
In both nations, services account for about 70 per cent of gross
domestic product (GDP) and of employment.
The DJW has 1,300 members and promotes trade links with an
emphasis on helping German medium-sized companies. It has several
prominent German business figures on its executive board.
The DJW points out there is heavy demand at the moment for legal
advice, technical services, intercultural coaching, exhibition
organizing and translation in bilateral business dealings which are
often hampered by the language barrier and regulatory differences.
Members of the DJW include millionaire businessman Juergen
Grossmann, forthcoming chief executive of giant utility RWE, Ludolf
von Wartenberg of the German Industry Confederation and Bruno Braun,
chief executive of TUeV Rheinland Group.
Teicher said, 'There are no specific statistics on trade in
services between Japan and Germany, but demand on both sides is
enormous.'
She said freight-forwarding and travel were particularly important
sectors, with major opportunities catering to the more than 500
German companies operating in Japan and more than 1,000 Japanese
companies with offices, warehouses or plants in Germany.
'The legal area illustrates that,' she said. 'In Germany, only 10
Japanese lawyers are licensed to practise. In Japan, there is only a
single registered lawyer from Germany and one patent attorney.'
Braun, whose TUeV company certifies products' compliance with
regulations, said Japan remained the most important nation in the
booming Asian market and the centrepiece of external business for
TUeV Rheinland, an enterprise with a world workforce of 8,500.
Currently TUeV Rheinland books annual Asian sales of 155 million
euros (211 million dollars). Its process and product testing business
is growing fast in China, and it is also active in Thailand, South
Korea, India and Vietnam.
In Japan, where TUeV Rhineland began Asian operations in 1978, it
is now licensed by the Japanese authorities as a testing institution
for the Japanese market as well, Braun pointed out.
Two years ago it opened its German Technology Assessment Centre in
Yokohama, where its engineers can test electrical appliances, medical
technology, vehicles and even robots for compliance with EU rules.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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