2021
March
17/03/2021 - VIP Online Meeting with the German Ambassador
The GIUK Board and Advisory Council had a very successful Online Meeting with the German Ambassador to the UK, HE Andreas Michaelis, on Wednesday, 17 March and discussed the challenges facing German business with COVID19 and Post-Brexit with him. We also talked about relations between the UK and Germany, very important to the Ambassador, and we will continue to support him in his endeavour. The UK has left the EU but not Europe and relations between the two major countries, the UK and Germany, are just as vital now and for the future as before.
April
14/04/2021 - VIP Online Meeting with Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Kt
We had a very rewarding online meeting with Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Kt, Minister for Investment at the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to discuss the challenges facing German business with COVID-19 and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. However, as I have said on many occasions, we will not leave the UK, one of Germany`s most important locations and markets worldwide, and we look forward to a good future in the UK. We were very grateful to the Minister for answering all our questions and inviting us to another online meeting in few months to keep up to date.
28/04/2021 - GIUK Online Meeting
We had a good online meeting on Wednesday, 28th April, from 2-2.50pm with some 15 members and the Minister from the German Embassy taking part. Unfortunately Terry Sargeant, our Chairman and Chief Executive, could not join the meeting because he had an online meeting with his board in Germany so Dr Atenstaedt, our President, chaired it.
He talked about our online meeting with Lord Grimstone on 14 April which was very rewarding and that the Minister asked for another online meeting with us in a few months. He has in the meantime established a new Investment Council to advise him on foreign investment into the UK. We welcome that the chief executives of four German companies are on the Council, Deutsche Post DHL, RWE Renewables, Airbus UK and Siemens UK.
Dr Atenstaedt also mentioned that he has invited the Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, as a possible next speaker from Government and Terry Sargeant is going to ask a chief executive of a British company for another online meeting.
Finally, Dr Atenstaedt gave an overview of our `New Survey Amongst German Business in the UK: Many Post-Brexit Challenges`, the results of which we sent out last week to all 35 companies who took part, this is now on our website and was mentioned on LinkedIn.
June

10/06/2021 - Fourth GIUK Online Meeting
We had a good fourth GIUK online meeting on Thursday, 10th June, from 2-2.45pm with some 17 members taking part, the chief executives of ANT Telecommunications, Atlas Elektronik, B Braun Medical, Boehringer Ingelheim, Efaflex, Fuchs Lubricants, HARTING, Helaba, Heller Machine Tools, Miele, Noerr, Rohde & Schwarz, Voith, Webasto and two members of our Advisory Council. Unfortunately Terry could not join the meeting because of technical issues so I chaired it.
We had two speakers, Dr Antoni Mazur, MD of Atlas Elektronik UK and Mr Klaus Allion, MD of ANT Telecommunications who both spoke about the challenges their companies are currently facing.
I then mentioned that I have written to the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for Transport about Germany coming off the UK Amber List for business, to the Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury asking for an online meeting with us and I have contacted Dr John Neill, Chairman of Unipart, also inviting him to speak at one of our online meetings. Lastly, I mentioned that Terry and I agreed to again meet for dinner discussions etc at the Royal Over-Seas Club in London as from the autumn, when hopefully the COVID restrictions are lifted.
29/06/2021 - Online Meeting with the Minister at the German Embassy
Some 10 Members of the GIUK Board and Advisory Council had an online `Teams` meeting with Oliver Schramm, Minister at the German Embassy and Head of their Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Global Issues, yesterday morning as he will be leaving London next month. We said farewell, thanked him for his great support of GIUK over the last 4 years, and wished him well in his new post as German Consul General in San Francisco, USA.
July

22/07/2021 - Fifth GIUK Online Meeting
We had a very good Fifth GIUK Online Meeting last Thursday, chaired by myself as Terry was not able to join the meeting, with some 12 of our colleagues taking part, including Mr Julian Frohnecke, a Counsellor from the German Embassy.
Our speaker, Mr Armin Brestrich, General Manager of LBBW London Branch and Regional Head EMEA, gave an extensive and interesting presentation on how Brexit and COVID has affected the financial services in the UK. This was followed by a discussion, in particular on how much the `pingdemic` is effecting our businesses.
September
20/09/2021 - POSTPONED - Online `Teams` Meeting with Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Kt
We are very pleased to have been invited to a second online meeting with Lord Grimstone and this time we will also invite all our members to join, not only the members of our Board and Advisory Council as we did for our first online meeting with him on 14 April. The Minister wants us to tell him how we are doing post-Brexit, in particular on Northern Ireland, with the pandemic and the `pingdemic`. Just to emphasise, Lord Grimstone is responsible for all foreign investment in the UK.
October

06/10/2021 - Sixth GIUK Online Meeting
Some 20 of our members joined our Sixth GIUK Online Meeting in 2021 to discuss the current challenges in British German trade.
Our guest speaker was Rafe Courage, Country Director for the Department for International Trade in Germany and HM Consul General in Dusseldorf. He gave a very comprehensive overview of the close political, economic and cultural relations between the UK and Germany today, mentioning in particular a recent cooperation agreement between the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Greater Manchester. We also had a contribution from Julian Frohnecke, Counsellor in the German Embassy in London. This was followed by a discussion on our challenges post-Brexit and with Covid and the recent decline of exports from Germany to the UK. The UK was the third most important destination before Brexit, it went down to ninth last year and is expected to be destination number eleven by the end of this year. We also talked about the NI Protocol and about skills following the PMs speech the day before in Manchester, who wants a high wage, high skilled and high productive UK for the future. Dr Atenstaedt mentioned that aspects of the German Dual Vocational Training Scheme would help to upskill the UK which he has already discussed with a number of Ministers in London.
20/10/2021 - VIP Event One/21 - Dinner Discussion with the Rt Hon Greg Hands MP
We had a very good dinner discussion on 20 October in London with the Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, Minister of State for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change. This dinner discussion had to unfortunately be postponed from last year due to the pandemic. The Minister talked about the way forward towards a Green UK and cooperation between the UK and Germany in energy, particularly in off-shore wind and increasingly in hydrogen and on climate change, sharing a common agenda in the run-in to COP 26 and beyond.
We were very pleased that our Patron, the German Ambassador, HE Andreas Michaelis, was also present.
2020
January

21/01/2020 - VIP Event One/20
February

24/02/2020 - Special Event One/20
Mr Graham Stuart MP, Minister for Exports (formerly Minister for Investment) at the Department for International Trade to talk about post Brexit transition, productivity and skills - This event is for GIUK Board and Advisory Council Members only
May

19/05/2020 - POSTPONED - NEW DATE SOON - Special Event Two/20
September

24/09/2020 - POSTPONED - NEW DATE SOON - Working Meeting One/20
October

22/10/2020 - POSTPONED - NEW DATE SOON - VIP Event Two/20
Postponed from 31 March and 9 July and also now unfortunately 22 October due to Coronavirus and with new Minister - Dinner Discussion with the Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, Minister of State at the Department for International Trade to discuss Relations between the UK and Germany after Brexits
2019
January

24/01/2019 - Special Event One/19
March

26/03/2019 - Working Meeting One/19
April

04/04/2019 - VIP Event One/19
June

05/06/2019 - Special Event Two/19
October

09/10/2019 - VIP Event Two/19
November

12/11/2019 - Working Meeting Two/19
2018
March

21/03/2018 - VIP Event One/18
May

17/05/2018 - VIP Event Two/18
October

10/10/2018 - VIP Event Three/18
This is our 3rd VIP Dinner Discussion on Brexit after the Dinner Discussion with the Brexit Minister Mr Robin Walker MP in September last year and Sir Keir Starmer KCB QC MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU in March this year, so after the Conservatives and Labour we are now talking to the Liberal Democrats about the way forward.
December

05/12/2018 - Special Event Two/18

11/12/2018 - Special Event One/18
Our Chairman and Chief Executive, together with other Members of the GIUK Board and Advisory Council, had a Roundtable Discussion with HE Dr Peter Wittig, German Ambassador. They discussed the challenges German business faces in the UK today, mainly Brexit, productivity and skills.
2017
March

14/03/2017 - Working Meeting One/17
September

21/09/2017 - VIP Event One/17
October

26/10/2017 - VIP Event Two/17
2016
March

15/03/2016 - Working Meeting One/16
April

14/04/2016 - VIP Event One/16
July

05/07/2016 - POSTPONED - now 14 March 2017 - Working Meeting Two/16

12/07/2016 - VIP Event Two/16
September

27/09/2016 - Special Event One/16
October

25/10/2016 - VIP Event Three/16
November

09/11/2016 - Working Meeting Three/16
2015
January

27/01/2015 - Special Event One/15
March

13/03/2015 - Working Meeting One/15
April

15/04/2015 - Special Event Two/15
June

30/06/2015 - Working Meeting Two/15
September

23/09/2015 - Working Meeting Three/15
October

15/10/2015 - Visit to a Major British Company One/15

29/10/2015 - GIUK`s 40th Anniversary Celebration Dinner
with Guest of Honour and Speaker Federal Minister Peter Altmaier MdB, Chief of the German Federal Chancellery (Chef des Bundeskanzleramtes, Bundesminister f?r besondere Aufgaben)who will speak on `Germany and the UK: Common Interests and Joint Challenges`
November

26/11/2015 - Working Meeting Four/15
2014
January

16/01/2014 - Visit to a Major British Company One/14

30/01/2014 - Special Event One/14
March

04/03/2014 - VIP Event One/14

21/03/2014 - Working Meeting One/14
May

16/05/2014 - Working Meeting Two/14
July

01/07/2014 - VIP Event Two/14

03/07/2014 - VIP Event Three/14
October

23/10/2014 - Working Meeting Three/14
November

04/11/2014 - VIP Event Four/14
2013
March

04/03/2013 - VIP Event One/13

14/03/2013 - Working Meeting One/13
April

23/04/2013 - VIP Event Two/13
May

16/05/2013 - VIP Event Three/13

31/05/2013 - Working Meeting Two/13
September

20/09/2013 - Working Meeting Three/13

30/09/2013 - VIP Event Four/13
November

05/11/2013 - Working Meeting Four/13

06/11/2013 - Special Event One/13

15/11/2013 - Visit to a Major British Company One/13
2012
March

21/03/2012 - Working Meeting One/12
May

16/05/2012 - Working Meeting Two/12
July

05/07/2012 - Visit to a Major British Company One/12
September

13/09/2012 - Working Meeting Three/12
November

02/11/2012 - Special Event One/12

21/11/2012 - Working Meeting Four/12
December

04/12/2012 - Working Meeting Five/12
2011
March

03/03/2011 - Working Meeting One/11

21/03/2011 - VIP Event One/11

24/03/2011 - VIP Event Two/11
May

18/05/2011 - Working Meeting Two/11
June

23/06/2011 - Working Meeting Three/11
July

07/07/2011 - Visit to a Major British Company One/11
September

22/09/2011 - Working Meeting Four/11
October

28/10/2011 - Special Event One/11
November

04/11/2011 - Visit to a Major British Company Two/11

24/11/2011 - Working Meeting Five/11
2010
February

15/02/2010 - Visit to a Major British Company One/10
March

22/03/2010 - VIP Event One/10
April

08/04/2010 - Working Meeting One/10
May

21/05/2010 - Working Meeting Two/10
September

15/09/2010 - Working Meeting Three/10
November

17/11/2010 - Working Meeting Four/10
2009
March

26/03/2009 - Working Meeting One/09

31/03/2009 - Special Event One/09
May

08/05/2009 - Special Event Two/09

20/05/2009 - Working Meeting Two/09
August

04/08/2009 - VIP Event One/09
September

16/09/2009 - Working Meeting Three/09
October

22/10/2009 - VIP Event Two/09
November

05/11/2009 - Working Meeting Four/09

17/11/2009 - Visit to a Major British Company One/09
2008
February

26/02/2008 - VIP Event One/08
April

01/04/2008 - Visit to a Major British Company One/08
July

29/07/2008 - Special Event One/08
September

01/09/2008 - Visit to a Major British Company Two/08

16/09/2008 - VIP Event Two/08

24/09/2008 - Working Meeting Three/08
November

20/11/2008 - Working Meeting Four/08
2007
March

21/03/2007 - Working Meeting One/07
April

23/04/2007 - Visit to a Major British Company One/07
May

08/05/2007 - VIP Event One/07

16/05/2007 - Working Meeting Two/07
October

16/10/2007 - VIP Event Two/07
November

21/11/2007 - Working Meeting Three/07
December

13/12/2007 - Working Meeting Four/07
2006
March

29/03/2006 - Working Meeting One/06
May

17/05/2006 - Working Meeting Two/06
September
