Voith CEO Lienhard to Take Over APA Chair

Hubert Lienhard, CEO of the German machinery company Voith, will take over the chair of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) in early 2014. Following the CEOs of Siemens and BASF, Lienhard will be the first CEO of a German family-owned company to steer APA. APA was founded in 1993. Previous chairmen include the former Siemens-CEO Heinrich von Pierer and the former BASF-CEO Jürgen Hambrecht. The current APA chairman is Peter Löscher, the former Siemens CEO.

"We aim at strengthening trade and investment between Asia and Europe in both directions. And we need to reduce barriers to trade and investment," Lienhard stated. Value chains connect Asia and Europe in a much higher intensity compared with 10 years ago. This process needs to be accelerated towards further integrating Asian markets into the world economy. Today, research and development in business is international and needs to be close to the market and the customer.

"German industry is well positioned in Asia," Löscher, the current APA chairman, added. "The guiding principles of APA--partnership, innovation, and sustainability—fit well to the global challenges that need to be tackled jointly by the leaders from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It was a pleasure having been asked to chair APA in July 2010 and I will remain fully committed until the end of my term," Löscher assured. With the APA, he sees a unique tool for the German business community to ensure a joint position towards Asia.

TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/