speeches
Opening of IWA 2006 & Outdoor Classics 33rd. International Trade Fair for Hunting and Sporting Arms, Outdoor Articles and Accessories
Ambassador William R. Timken
Nürnberg
March 10, 2006
Dear Herr Staatsminister Sinner
Dear Herr Lux,
Dear Herr Sauer,
Dear Herr Dr. Maly,
Dear Herr Dieterichs,
And dear honored guests,
Good morning.
It is a genuine pleasure for my wife Sue, my daughter Fran, and myself to be here today—thank you all for coming.
Please allow me to also welcome you to the thirty-third International Trade Fair for Hunting and Sporting Arms, Outdoor Articles and Accessories.
As the Ambassador of the United States of America to Germany, it is always a pleasure to see people from the United States, Europe and around the world gathering to transact business. Trade and investment increase prosperity for everyone involved. In so doing, they create important shared interests that are the bedrock on which diplomacy builds. We have seen over the past two years how the U.S.-German trade and investment relationship helped the German-American partnership weather a rough patch. I'm delighted to see that business relationship continue to flourish at shows like this one.
As an avid hunter and shooter in my own right, it is a special pleasure to welcome all the exhibitors, buyers and guests from around the world to the IWA trade fair. You have rightly chosen Nuremberg as a destination for doing business in this sector. This show is world famous for its top-of-the-line equipment for both the hunting and sporting arms industries.
I am especially pleased that over 170 U.S. exhibitors are participating this year, offering a wide range of U.S. products and services, which I strongly encourage you to become acquainted with over the next couple of days.
As many of you know, trade fairs in Germany play a crucial role in product marketing. American companies, keen to enter the German and European market, are encouraged to participate in, or at least visit, one of the major specialized international trade fairs this country has to offer. Exhibiting at German trade fairs not only helps bring direct sales—but has also proven one of the more cost effective ways to test-market products and to assess the competition.
Germany’s trade shows also offer U.S. firms an unprecedented venue to reach the global marketplace. Germany attracts market attention from not only Western and Eastern Europe but also an international audience. Nearly 30,000 exhibitors and 400,000 visitors from countries outside of Europe participated at Germany’s shows last year.
I understand that worldwide there are only two significant trade shows for the entire hunting industry. There is the popular Shot Show in the United States, and IWA in Europe. These two trade shows, in effect, cover the worldwide market. These two trade shows have developed a remarkable relationship over the years, a relationship that has generated fruitful results for American and German businesses. I wish the show organizers much continuing success in the future.
Let me now turn to some interesting trends in the hunting and shooting industries in the United States:
Hunting: Nearly 80 percent of Americans support hunting, although less than 10 percent are actual participants. Some 18.5 million hunters contribute more than $30 billion annually to the U.S. economy and support more than 986,000 jobs. Importantly, they are the primary financiers (more than $1.5 billion per year) of conservation programs that benefit all Americans who value and appreciate wildlife and nature.
Many of the US companies exhibiting here today are actively involved in their communities, supporting local and national conservation programs. We thank them for this.
Secondly, sport shooters: More than 19 million Americans safely participate in target shooting. Their numbers break out into subsets of people who enjoy shooting handguns, shotguns and rifles. Add special-interest shooters to this mix, such as muzzleloader enthusiasts, and the total number of active shooters jumps even greater! Target shooting varies from folks participating in hunting as a leisure hobby—to competitive local leagues, and from collegiate athletics to the pinnacle of the sport—the Olympic games.
One interesting trend that you may not be aware of is that hunting and target shooting, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, has also become popular among women. Participation among American women in this sport rose from 4.2 million to 6.5 million between 1999 and 2005. Consequently, more and more families are beginning to hunt and shoot together as a family activity, as we have experienced in my own family.
These developments illustrate the continuing growth and viability of the hunting and shooting industries in the United States.
We at the U.S. Embassy, and the U.S. Consulate in Munich, value our long-standing and productive working relationship with the Nuremberg Messe. I personally want to thank the Messe leadership for being such an excellent partner of the United States over the years. We look forward to continuing to work with you in our mutual goal to introduce U.S. companies to the German and European marketplace.
Ladies and gentlemen, I wish all of you much success in the coming days at IWA.
Thank you.
