A message from AHK Australien’s Executive Director

Herzlich Willkommen to the first edition of Accelerate, our new quarterly magazine.

What a year 2020 has been. Who would have thought that we had to go through a global pandemic with its challenging economical and societal impacts? All of us had to adapt to a new environment, personally and professionally, including the first recession in Australia in nearly thirty years.

Many GermanAustralian businesses, however, have demonstrated their resilience and flexibility to adapt their business to the new situation. That is why you find myself and my team at the GermanAustralian Chamber optimistic about the future – and especially about the GermanAustralian relationship.

In this new magazine, we would like to share the stories of those businesses, their current challenges, and their successes. Re-Focus is the overarching topic we have chosen to encourage and inspire the GermanAustralian business community with those valuable insights.

But also, we as the Chamber re-focus. It is all about delivering value. We strive to deliver you the right content, the right connection, and the right consulting services, all based on a solid understanding of strategic bilateral business initiatives. And to tell you all about it we updated our communications tools, too: there is our Newsletter AHK Weekly, a muchimproved smartphone app, our popular podcasts and even a video format in the making.

One exciting project you are reading right now – our quarterly magazine is completely re-developed based on your, our readers’ feedback. It is a digital-only experience, with articles improved through relevant links and infographics, smartphonefriendly texts, and our new lead article.

I hope you enjoy this interactive edition. It would be great to have your feedback via mail. Feel free to tell us what you like and what you do not like.

I wish you all a successful conclusion of 2020 and a festive Christmas break with your family. Please let me finish with a sneak peek into the Chamber’s roadmap for 2021. We are planning a not-to-be-missed bilateral conference to support your company’s growth, to bring back German business delegations to Australia and to accelerate the promising policy developments around hydrogen and the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement. And of course, we are looking forward to seeing you soon in person!

Enjoy the magazine, yours with best regards,

CHRISTOPH VON SPESSHARDT christoph.spesshardt @germany.org.au