Export offensive

German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle announced Tuesday that the government is launching an "export offensive" targeted at small and medium-sized companies.

Businesses operating in markets such as energy generation, environmental technology, security services as well as the space and aviation industry were the focus of the government program, Bruederle said at a news conference in Berlin.

"The global economy is expected to grow by 6 percent this year, and we want to profit from this growth," he said, adding that countries such as China, India and Brazil were leading the world economy out of the current slump.

Silver lining

The government's export program comes after the steepest decline in German exports in more than half a century.

The global economic crisis caused German exports to fall by a staggering 18 percent last year to 803 billion euros ($1.1 trillion), after a record in 2008 of about 947 billion euros. This means that Germany lost its position as the world's leading export nation to China last year.

A slow recovery of German exports in the second half of 2009 could now come to a halt as the stimulus packages introduced by governments worldwide run out.

"The upswing is fragile and not yet self-sustaining," Bruederle argued as he outlined his program.

Set of instruments

Key elements of the new plan are government loan guarantees for export deals, as well as state funding for companies seeking to explore new markets.

For that the government plans to open new Chambers of Commerce and Trade in Azerbaijan, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya and Libya.

Bruederle plans to sign bilateral free trade agreements with countries in Asia and Latin America intended to open up markets there for German exports. He also wants to reduce bureaucracy in his ministry so that funding could be provided more easily and quickly.

Successful completion of the Doha Round of free trade talks is also high on Bruederle's agenda for this year.

'Unfounded criticism'

The Economy Minister rejected recent criticism of Germany's export boom voiced by his French counterpart Christine Lagarde.

Last week Lagarde argued that Germany's huge trade surpluses with countries in Europe had created imbalances that were partly responsible for the budget problems in Greece and other EU nations.

"Such criticism is unfounded," Bruederle said. "Germany's exports are increasingly becoming a motor for the economies of other European Union countries to overcome the crisis."

uh/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Ben Knight