Ladies and Gentlemen,
Many thanks for your invitation. I am very pleased to be here in Singapore with you. The Singaporean-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SGC) has an outstanding reputation. You can be certain that Hamburg companies are not reserved in their judgement of Chambers, but just how important the international chamber of commerce in Singapore is for business in Asia is common knowledge.
Singapore now holds second place for the Port of Hamburg in container trade and sixth place in seaborne cargo handling. 400 Hamburg companies cultivate business relations with Singapore, and more than 100 of them are represented here. We want to broaden and deepen these relationships.
Singapore is an impressive place, and it is truly exceptional. The Hamburg delegation arrived with high expectations, and our expectations were exceeded by far. We have learned a great deal and collected many new ideas along the way. We will go home with a veritable legacy of experiences from Singapore.
Singapore is an important and highly recognized partner as a site for international trade. Located here is the worlds second largest port, rightly referred to as the Best Port in Asia. But Singapore is not only a hub of globalisation. At the same time, the nation is also a centre of information and communication technologies. Here in the Smart Nation, one can see the enormous potentials of digitalisation.
Smart solutions are sometimes simply a stroke of genius, but most of them develop through the way we learn from one another. I was fortunate enough to enjoy discussions with Prime Minister Lee, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Balakrishnan who is in charge of the smart nation initiative, and with many experts regarding the perspectives of digitalisation. Finding solutions for urban challenges was also the topic of the World Cities Summit. Representatives from the USA, Europe and Asia showed how many projects already exist that conserve resources, simplify administration and make cities more liveable.
Our cities are key: Seen globally, the importance of cities will continue to increase. The population figures of the major cities are growing, and business must grow as well, so that it can provide for the people. And we need to find urban solutions for the responsible use of nature, energy and lifespans. In our cities, these factors will also determine the future of humanity. Therefore it is only right to give priority to city-states.
Anyone who knows how to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalisation belongs to the scientific and economic avant-garde today. Digital technologies are not only changing day-to-day communication, but also altering industrial production and public infrastructure to an increasing extent. This, too, is occurring predominantly in the urban structures, because that is where the most people live and where problems become visible first. But this does not occur automatically. Digital progress also requires political will, creativity and expertise in developing solutions. Here in Singapore, this was recognised very early on, and the Smart Nation Programme Office was established at the highest level. In 2011, the Hamburg Senate, the government of our Land, created the Leitstelle Medien the central office for media which has a similar structure.
As is the case in Singapore, digitalisation is taking place in Hamburg within a powerful economic environment that is marked by its port, trade and industrial production.
Hamburg is Germanys anchor in world trade. The largest German port is No. 3 in Europe for container handling and is one of the biggest in the world. Our port has direct access to the North Sea, is located on the second largest river in Europe, and, thanks to the Kiel Canal, is also the largest container port in the Baltic region. Three of the nine transport routes that run through the continent and that link the European single market pass through Hamburg. These outstanding connections make the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg into an ideal hub for the European single market.
Hamburg has a population of 1.8 million and is the centre of a metropolitan region of 5 million people. 320,000 commuters come to our city every day. The city is growing, and we are going to have to deal with much more traffic in the future. Furthermore, we need to reduce CO2 emissions and maintain our green and recreational areas. To facilitate the parallel existence of business and nature in a green and growing city, we need even more and even more intelligent transport systems. We see many opportunities in the interlinking of transport systems, real-time information, traffic management and traffic prognoses. There are already numerous projects at the Port in this area: smartPort logistics links the various modes of transport on roads, water and rail. Traffic jams can be circumvented, parking spots located, and traffic lights set to green. With smartPort energy, we are increasing energy efficiency, reducing emissions and promoting renewable energies.
More than ever, we are dependent on learning from one another. Hamburg is pursuing a digitalisation strategy in its cooperation with other ports. We have taken the initiative in establishing a global chain of smartPORTS, the so-called ChainPORTS. Ensuring greater efficiency and, especially, continuous growth through the use of intelligent systems is a topic that concerns all of the leading ports.
One of the key industries in Hamburg is civil aviation. Best known are the major players, Airbus and Lufthansa Technik. In collaboration with Hamburg Airport and more than 300 supply and maintenance companies, they have made Hamburg into the third largest site in the world. One of our biggest clients is Singapore Airlines. SIA was the first customer for the A 380 series that was produced in Hamburg. Of the 35 planes that were ordered, 19 have already been delivered. At the present time, Airbus is expanding its maintenance operations in Singapore. By the way, Airbus is also a pioneer in the development of Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) and bionics.
The area of Hamburg is somewhat greater than that of Singapore, but it has only one-third of the population. We are living in a growing city, but one that remains an attractive, green city on the water. In our urban development projects, we combine residential and commercial factors, living and working. New spaces are purposefully designed to ensure that citizens have access to recreational areas on the water. Urban development in Hamburg combines the parallel existence of a growing economy, sufficient and good living space, and attractive green spaces. This is why we are also interested in Singapores concepts for solving the problem of competition for land.
Hamburg will be adopting the idea of flatted factories and thereby initiating a totally new concept for commercial spaces for Germany and Europe. We have begun work at very different sites, two, three and seven levels have been planned up to now. To get an idea of what is possible, we took a look at the JTC Surface Engineering Hub. We will be bringing many ideas from Singapore to Hamburg in regard to this topic, too.
But Hamburg is not only good for business. The city offers a cosmopolitan environment and a high standard of living. People from more than 180 nations live here. One-third of all Hamburg residents have family members that come from a different country. In comparison with other business centres, we have moderate property prices and an outstanding cultural environment that is admired all over the world. The Elbphilharmonie, a world-class concert hall, will be opening in January 2017. Its acoustics were developed by Yasuhisa Toyota, who is Japanese.
The Hamburg flair is really something special: The Hanseatic city is considered the most British city in Europe outside of the United Kingdom. In jest, Hamburg is sometimes referred to as a suburb of London, because London and Hamburg have been linked by a trading history extending over centuries. In fact, part of todays Hamburg, namely Hamburg-Harburg, even belonged to the domain of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the 18th and early 19th centuries (1714-1837).
The relationship between Hamburg and London will be changing again: Nearly three weeks ago, the majority of citizens in Great Britain decided to end its membership in the European Union, which has existed since 1973. Hamburg regrets the negative result of the referendum, as do Germany and all the European governments.
Even though the British government has not yet invoked Art. 50 EUV, Europe is already discussing the impact. Great Britains exit from the EU will have consequences for the EU, but especially for the British themselves. The magnitude of this decision will be seen more clearly in the course of the coming weeks and months. The initial statistical analyses show that a majority of the British were voting against globalisation. The vote against European integration was fuelled by the promise of obtaining greater freedom of action on a purely national level. This is a false promise, for it is not possible to remove oneself from a globalised world.
The new British government will presumably declare its exit from the EU at the end of the year. Once the old ties have been terminated, we will find new forms of collaboration. Like Norway, the United Kingdom could continue to participate in the EU Single Market. But the advantages of the EU Single Market with freedom of capital, merchandise, people and services can only be enjoyed as a whole. The negotiations will then take another two years, as is stipulated. After this, all of the heads of government of the remaining 27 EU member states will have to agree on a new form of collaboration.
The new situation is a challenge and a clear mandate to the EU member states to make its structures more transparent and more democratic. Like Germany, Hamburg believes firmly in the European Union. We feel that the EU serves to amplify the power we need to deal appropriately with the great global actors like the USA and China. I am also very pleased that the EU has signed a trade agreement with Singapore.
The world is drawing increasingly closer, and we can sense this in world trade. But we also feel this in connection with topics involving science, technology and politics. More than ever, we are dependent on collaborating with and learning from one another. The large enterprises recognised long ago that international networking serves to strengthen those involved. So it pays to find the time to talk.
This holds true especially for our time here in Singapore. There is no doubt that we will know much more when we leave this hospitable, exciting and brilliant Smart Nation than we did when we arrived.
Many thanks!
Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.