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Studio Guest: Jürgen Wöhler
This week’s studio guest: Jürgen Wöhler, Secretary-General, Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and IndustryDW-TV: Let's pull in Jürgen Wöhler. He is head of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce. We're going to talk about Asia in this era of budget cutting in a just a minute, Mr. Wöhler. But first, let's talk about Germany. 80 billion euros in cuts here. Your opinion. A necessary evil? Jürgen Wöhler: Yes, certainly, if you look at the indebtness of Germany and the budget situation, certainly Germany should also give a good example to its European neighbours. DW-TV: You are very sensitive to what consumers want. Obviously you talk to business people all the time, particularly in the exporting industry. Attached to these budget cuts here in Germany we've got new taxes on nuclear power plants, new taxes on the airlines. A lot of people are saying this is a hidden tax that will then be forwarded on to the consumer. Are you worried about consumer spending right here in your home market? Jürgen Wöhler: I do not really care that much on the German market because I live in Korea and, obviously, in Korea things would go much different. DW-TV: Yes, but it's important what happens in this market for businesses in Korea. They want to sell their goods to Germany. Jürgen Wöhler: Yes, but I think it's consumer goods which Korea delivers to Germany while Germany delivers to Korea more investment goods. And I think the consumption will remain stable in Germany. DW-TV: What do business people abroad, particularly in South Korea where you are, what do they tell you, what are their impressions about the health of the European economy right now? Jürgen Wöhler: We hear not very encouraging news but I'm rather confident. If you see how Germany went along over the last years and especially through the crisis 2008, 2009, we are quite confident that Germany will be the first country to really recover. DW-TV: Do you hear people saying that perhaps the Europeans could learn from the Asians ...
Video Length: 0
Date Found: August 26, 2010
Date Produced: August 23, 2010
View Count: 1
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