TFU shareholders Gunter Czisch, Heiner Scheffold, and Thorsten Freudenberger took part in the delegation trip to China. Also present were TFU Managing Director Ulrike Hudelmaier, Peter Kulitz, and state legislators Ronja Kemmer and Alexander Kulitz.
Südwestpresse / Ulm / Chirin Kolb January 12, 2019
Mayor Gunter Czisch and District Administrators Heiner Scheffold (Alb-Donau District) and Thorsten Freudenberger (Neu-Ulm) returned yesterday, impressed by a five-day delegation trip to the southern Chinese metropolis of Zhuhai. “Germany and German products have an incredibly good reputation in China,” the mayor said in an initial statement. The participants plan to report on their trip in detail at a press conference on Friday.
Czisch, Scheffold, and Freudenberger, as partners in the TFU Gründerzentrum, took part in the trip along with its managing director, Ulrike Hudelmaier. The goal was to build on the initial visit by a Chinese delegation to Ulm by strengthening existing contacts, establishing new ones, and exploring opportunities for cooperation and future collaboration. “There are already several concrete project ideas,” Czisch said upon his return.
The delegation, which presented an Albert Einstein figurine from Ottmar Hörl’s art installation, was received “with palpable anticipation” by Party Secretary Yan Hong. Nearly the entire regional leadership was present at the meeting in Zhuhai City Hall and showed great interest in cooperation. The delegation also held discussions with representatives of international companies. According to a statement from the city of Ulm, the mayor and district administrators “presented the advantages of the region, including its research and innovation infrastructure.”
Members of the Bundestag Ronja Kemmer (CDU) and Alexander Kulitz (FDP) also took part in the trip. This caused some irritation within SPD circles, as it was suspected that Bundestag member Hilde Mattheis had been overlooked and not invited in the first place. “We didn’t invite any members of the Bundestag at all,” Czisch said when asked. He explained that Kemmer and Kulitz’s participation was due to other reasons; both had paid for and organized the trips themselves.
According to the report, Alexander Kulitz was in Hong Kong with his father, Peter Kulitz, the former president of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), and joined the Ulm/Neu-Ulm delegation at times. Peter Kulitz was in Asia in his capacity as chairman of the Foreign Trade Committee of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Czisch says that his participation in the TFU shareholders’ discussions in this capacity enhanced the German delegation’s standing in the eyes of the Chinese. Ronja Kemmer traveled to China together with three female entrepreneurs from Club Alpha.
