A committee from Germany-Bremen paid a visit to Izmir in order to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Bremen Investment Office.
The committee under the auspices of Martin Günther, Bremen’s Senate in Charge of Ports and the Economy, expressed during this visit that they were ready to back Izmir up and cooperate with Izmir for EXPO 2020.

Aziz Kocaoğlu, the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan City, underlined that he and the citizens living in Izmir were pleased to host this committee, as Izmir was well recognized as the sister city of Bremen. Furthermore, Kocaoğlu expressed his gratitude towards the committee members, as the branch of the Bremen Investment Office was launched in Izmir-Alsancak. “As economical relations were deemed to improve thanks to this new Office, we are expecting new developments within the framework of the social, cultural and political life of people living in this city” said Kocaoğlu.

The Senate Martin Günther stated that they were very impressed by what they saw in Izmir. As Günther strictly underlined that a strong cooperation started between Izmir and Bremen, he added that they could cooperate closely especially in the field of aviation, airspace and renewable energy. Günther told that they specially preferred Izmir to launch their offices and he went on by saying that “All people prefer to launch their branches in Istanbul, but we decided to launch this branch in Izmir. I really believe that life is here in this city. And people reflect an exact dynamism.  Therefore, we would like to back Izmir up for EXPO 2020. We can negotiate how we can cooperate with each other within this framework.” Günther released the news on the organization of a fair in Bremen in 2011 and what is more, the Turkish Singer Sezen Aksu was going to have her floor on that platform.
Apart from Martin Günthner, Andreas Heyer as the General Director of the WFB Bremen Economy Incentive Ltd., Volkmar Herr as the General Director for International Business Area under the roof of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce, Yasemin Patricia Vierkötter as the affiliated Consulate of Bremen in Turkey, Andrea Frohmader as the Director of Foreign Affairs of the Bremen Municipality, Marc Landau as the General Director of the German-Turkish Commerce of Trade and Industry and Christian Gutschmidt as the Senator for Economy and Ports Division attended the visit program.

Andreas Heyer as the Chairman of the Bremen Development Agency indicated that three regions were selected after the economical analyses around the world with the aim of enhancing international operations. These regions are: Atlanta in America, Shanghai in China and Izmir in Turkey. To this end, this branch was launched in Izmir. Heyer stressed that the goal of this establishment was to contribute to the Turkish economy. Consequently, Turkish enterprises could benefit from Bremen while expanding in Europe or vice versa.