PR — Top Business Associations Establish Transatlantic Business Initiative (TBI)

The Transat­lantic Busi­ness Ini­tia­tive (TBI) has been launched today by four lead­ing Ger­man busi­ness asso­ci­a­tions — the Asso­ci­a­tion of Ger­man Banks (BdB), the Fed­er­a­tion of Ger­man Indus­tries (BDI), the Fed­er­a­tion of Ger­man Whole­sale, For­eign Trade and Ser­vices (BGA) and the Asso­ci­a­tion of Ger­man Cham­bers of Indus­try and Com­merce (DIHK). Through the TBI, Ger­man busi­ness seeks to inject new momen­tum into transat­lantic rela­tions, build­ing on trade and eco­nom­ic pol­i­cy sup­port from Berlin and Brussels.

The TBI is com­mit­ted to strength­en­ing eco­nom­ic rela­tions between Ger­many and the EU, as well as the Unit­ed States and Cana­da. To this end, the ini­tia­tive will serve as a plat­form, address­ing transat­lantic issues from the per­spec­tive of Ger­man busi­ness. The TBI will seek dia­logue with the Ger­man gov­ern­ment, the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion, rel­e­vant par­lia­ments and, above all, with the gov­ern­ments in Wash­ing­ton and Ottawa. The aim is open dia­logue about dif­fer­ences and find­ing con­struc­tive solutions.

The glob­al chal­lenges also fac­ing the transat­lantic part­ners and their com­pa­nies are wide-rang­ing. Com­pa­nies on both sides of the Atlantic must rise to these chal­lenges. The cen­tral basis for this is com­mon eco­nom­ic inter­ests and fun­da­men­tal con­vic­tions that unite them.

“Transat­lantic rela­tions have under­gone var­i­ous chal­lenges in recent years. Now the EU and the Unit­ed States must once again pull togeth­er in the same direc­tion in order to mean­ing­ful­ly address major glob­al chal­lenges such as cli­mate change, but also to make the most of oppor­tu­ni­ties such as dig­i­tal­iza­tion for the good of our soci­eties. The EU‑U.S. sum­mit delin­eat­ed that the gov­ern­ments of the transat­lantic part­ners are ready to work close­ly togeth­er, as are Ger­man and Euro­pean busi­ness­es,” said BDI Pres­i­dent Siegfried Russ­wurm, chair­man of the TBI.

BdB Pres­i­dent Hans-Wal­ter Peters: “The pan­dem­ic has made it clear that glob­al crises can only be over­come by work­ing togeth­er. The Transat­lantic Busi­ness Ini­tia­tive offers an excel­lent plat­form for gen­er­at­ing new impe­tus for dia­logue between pol­i­tics and busi­ness. This also applies to the finan­cial sec­tor: on both sides of the Atlantic, the same ques­tions are being asked: how do we use momen­tum to finance the post-pan­dem­ic recon­struc­tion and there­in make the finan­cial sec­tor more sus­tain­able and digital?”

BGA Pres­i­dent Anton F. Börn­er: “The order of the day in transat­lantic rela­tions is more col­lab­o­ra­tion and less con­fronta­tion. The TBI makes a con­struc­tive con­tri­bu­tion to sig­nif­i­cant­ly improv­ing coop­er­a­tion with our part­ners on the oth­er side of the Atlantic. The Unit­ed States and the EU must joint­ly tack­le the major glob­al chal­lenges and no longer lose them­selves in pet­ty trade con­flicts. Our com­mon con­cern is that the pro­mo­tion of transat­lantic rela­tions should once again be giv­en a higher
pri­or­i­ty in Berlin and Brus­sels and thus, one that it deserves.”

Four steer­ing com­mit­tees are planned as part of the TBI on the fol­low­ing top­ics: Trade and Invest­ment Pol­i­cy, Ener­gy and Cli­mate Pol­i­cy, Data and Dig­i­tal Econ­o­my, and Enter­prise and Finance. Top rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty are active­ly involved in these steer­ing committees.

Press Con­tacts:
Job­st-Hin­rich Wiskow
Head of Press and Pub­lic Rela­tions Department
Fed­er­a­tion of Ger­man Indus­tries (BDI)
Fon +49 (3)0 20281565
Mail j.wiskow@bdi.eu

Ker­stin Altendorf
Press Spokeswoman
Fed­er­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Ger­man Banks e.V. (BdB)
Fon +49 (3)0 1663 1250
Mail kerstin.altendorf@bdb.de

André Schwarz
Press Spokesman
Ger­man Whole­sale, For­eign Trade and Ser­vices Asso­ci­a­tion (BGA)
Fon +49 (0)30 59 00 99 520
Mail andre.schwarz@bga.de

Chris­t­ian Jekat
Press Spokesman
Asso­ci­a­tion of Ger­man Cham­bers of Indus­try and Com­merce e. V. (DIHK)
Fon +49 (3)0 20308 1639
Mail jekat.christian@dihk.d