Alabama businesses on trade trip to Germany

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Munich, Germany. Shutterstock

Bolstering commerce in Alabama is the focus of a trade mission to Germany this week.

A group of Alabama business leaders, headed by Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield, are in the central European country this week on a strategic trip designed to help Alabama companies strengthen economic ties, new markets, and potential partnerships.

The department’s Office of International Trade is currently working with the U.S. Commercial Service to give Alabama minority-owned businesses the chance to meet with potential partners in Europe.

“Through our Office of International Trade, we are leading the charge to ensure that Alabama companies are directly connected to the resources they need to access foreign markets and develop export opportunities,” Canfield said in a release. We are committed to strengthening Alabama’s international ecosystem and working with our trade partners on every level to foster a healthy climate for international business.”

The trip, which concludes Wednesday, will see the group visit Munich and Augsburg and is the first trip by the Department of Commerce since before the pandemic. The last trip was in September 2019 to the United Arab Emirates.

While in Augsburg, according to the release, the team will participate in the EU-US Small and Medium Enterprise Best Practices Workshop, which is designed to provide more trade and investment opportunities in both regions.

In Munich, the team will attend business meetings, according to the release. Munich is billed as a global center of technology, innovation and science, and finance.

Alabama companies on the trip include Gene Capture, a biotechnology company based in Huntsville. The company is working to develop portable technology that would be used for identifying infections. BLOC Global Group, which is a Birmingham-based company specializing in corporate real estate and infrastructure delivery, according to the release.

Domestique, which is an EV hospitality company, is on the trip. The company is working to create a better user experience and fighting climate change, according to the release. Adah International, which is an industrial engineering and project management services company, and ASHIPA Electric Limited, a company developing power microgrid management software, are also on the trip.

According to the release, German-based companies have invested almost $10 billion into the state’s economy since 1999.

Republished with the permission of The Center Square.