The Ambassadors of the Partner Countries, the USA and Canada, Visit the International Suppliers Fair

Wolfsburg, Germany, 8th October 2010. Today was the last trade fair day of the International Suppliers Fair (IZB) in Wolfsburg and it was fully characterised by this year’s partner countries, the USA and Canada. The speakers at the North America Forum included the US Ambassador to Germany Philip D. Murphy and his Canadian counterpart Dr Peter Boehm. Following the Ambassadors’ speeches, key figures from the Volkswagen Group of America and representatives from American, Canadian and German supplier companies reported on quality standards and the challenges facing potential partners.
On the morning of the event, the US Ambassador had already visited a range of American exhibitors at their stands, accompanied by Prof. Dr-Ing. Bernd Wilhelm, the Special IZB Representative of Volkswagen AG, Julius von Ingelheim, the Spokesman of the Board of Wolfsburg AG, and a delegation. He showed an interest in the exhibitors’ products and asked them how the trade fair was going. “They are very pleased with the trade fair and are very happy that they decided to come. Incidentally this year there are 67 US exhibitors compared to four at the IZB 2008”, reported Murphy at the North America Forum, summarising his contact with representatives of the exhibiting companies.

In his welcome speech, the Canadian Ambassador Peter M. Boehm, who had already visited the stands of Canadian supplier companies and held many conversations with their representatives on 6th October, stated that the IZB gave an excellent insight into the size, significance, quality and complexity of the Canadian automotive supplier industry.