Every year, we organize an annual trip to Hamburg, a key event where our Chief Representative of Hamburg to Mumbai, Ms. Sameeha Sule, travels to Hamburg to engage with key partners and stakeholders. This year’s trip, from June 17th to July 3rd, is focused on strengthening existing relationships and exploring new opportunities for collaboration.

The trip began on a high note with a lunch meeting attended by Mr. Jannes Elfgen, Head of Port Energy Solutions at Hamburg Port Authority, and Ms. Inga Gurries, Head of Market Development Asia at Port of Hamburg Marketing. This engaging discussion highlighted potential avenues for collaboration on Green Shipping Corridors, emphasizing Hamburg’s extensive experience in this field.

Building on this momentum, we met with Ms. Britta Puchert, Asia Officer at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport, and Innovation, Hamburg. Our conversation illuminated exciting prospects for both potential and current delegation trips between India and Germany.

Continuing our focus on key partnerships, we had a productive meeting with Ms. Inga Gurries and Mr. Matthias Schulz, Member of the Management Board at Port of Hamburg Marketing e.V., one of our longstanding partners. This reaffirmed the importance of maintaining strong relationships with our partners.

A visit to ARIC (Artificial Intelligence Centre Hamburg) was particularly enlightening. We discussed potential collaboration in the AI sector with Ms. Petra Vorsteher, co-founder of AI Hamburg, exploring how our countries can work together on AI ecosystems and quantum computing. ARIC’s commitment to building science-based innovation and ensuring responsible AI use is commendable and future-oriented.

Next, we visited Anna Almagor, Manager of the OAV Young Leaders Program, and Barbara Schmidt-Ajayi, Regional Manager of OAV South Asia. The OAV Young Leaders Program, a junior management program of the German Asian economy, brings together high potentials of OAV member companies in an international network. We explored ways to support each other and collaborate, particularly focusing on Asia expertise and leadership development.

A memorable visit to Airbus with Usha Hartig, Agile Catalyst at Airbus, allowed us to properly introduce Hamburg Representation Mumbai and discuss potential areas for collaboration. The tour of their office provided valuable insights into their operations.

One of the trip’s key highlights was the interaction with the Indian community at Hapag-Lloyd, during which we were able to gain insights into the skilled labor influx from India into Germany (read more in the HRM Activities section).

Ms. Sameeha Sule remarked, “This trip has been incredibly fruitful, allowing us to deepen our partnerships and explore new avenues for collaboration. We look forward to the exciting developments that will arise from these meetings.”

Overall, the first few weeks of the trip have been truly insightful and beneficial for HRM. We have many more exciting trips and events planned, including the much-awaited Foreign Business Day organized by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. Stay tuned for the next edition of our newsletter for more updates!