Interview with new Ghorfa President Spranger

Herr Spranger was born 28 March 1939 in Leipzig. He studied law from 1957 to 1962 and, following his second state law examination in 1962 and after several-years employment at Erlangen-Nuremburg University, started a high-profile career as public prosecutor, regional court counsellor and politician of the conservative Christian Social Union, the party governing Bavaria for many decades.

For 30 years, he was an elected member of the Bundestag, the German Parliament, and belonged to the Government for 16 years, where he gained special recognition as Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Herr Spranger is married with three children.

AME Info asked Herr Spranger, what prompted him to take over the strenuous job as President of Ghorfa after his long career in the Corridors of Power.

He said that he had very high regard for the activities of Ghorfa. It had proved to be a very significant and successful institution and organisation for promoting economic ties between the Arab countries and Germany and Europe in general.

In its 30-years history, Ghorfa had supported countless German and Arab companies, building mutual partnerships, offering platforms for a mutual exchange and understanding, arranging participation in international trade fairs, organising trade delegations and offering a multitude of essential services for all those involved in the Middle East business.

This was a great challenge for someone wanting to make one's own contribution to these noble efforts, and he felt very honoured by being elected Ghorfa's President.

Herr Spranger confirmed AME Info's assumption, that the experience he had gained as minister in charge of international cooperation and development would be a special asset for the Ghorfa presidency.

He had indeed made many friends in the Middle East and was proud to have helped shaping the multi-layered economic ties with the Arab countries over many years.

An intimate awareness of the history, the traditions, cultures and mentalities, a thorough knowledge of the risks, but even more of the opportunities in the Arab world would enhance the quality of Ghorfa's work and thus its attractiveness.

Asked by AME Info to comment of Ghorfa's activities in 2005, the Herr Spranger mentioned the following examples:

- More than 10 company trade delegations under the Ghorfa umbrella will visit Arab countries;

- Ghorfa will we represented with small and medium-size companies at ca. 10 Arab trade fairs;

- A series of events will be held at various levels in Germany to bring together Arab and German businessmen and decision-makers;

- There will again be two big central gatherings: the German-Arab Tourism Forum on 14 March 2005 in Berlin and the German-Arab Business Forum from 14th to 17 June 2005 in Berlin.

The Ghorfa President noted that additional investments of the Arab countries in the wake of the increased oil revenues posed a particular opportunity for Germany, which enjoyed a high reputation as an exporter of high-quality goods among buyers from both the state and the private sectors.

Sensibly, the money would be spent predominantly on forward-orientated infrastructure projects such as energy, water, transport, telecommunications and the environment, but also in the construction, health, tourism and educational sectors - i.e. all fields where Germany could offer excellent products and engineering services.

AME Info met Herr Spranger shortly after he had successfully led a Ghorfa trade delegation to Libya, the biggest ever from Germany visiting this country.

He explained that as a result of Libya's opening policy, Chancellor Schroeder's visit to Tripoli last October and the clarification of the German-Libyan debts and export guarantees, German business showed an enormous interest in doing business there. Another trade delegation will travel to Libya this autumn.