At the first National Steel Summit in Saarbrücken on Monday,government representatives from Saarland, North Latitude, Brandenburg and LowerSaxony, as well as Bremen and Hamburg signed an agreement to set up steelalliance. The slogan of the conference was “Strengthening Steel and Protectingthe Future”. About 2,500 guests including the Federal Government, the GermanSteel Federation, the German Metal Industry Union (IG Metall) and industryexperts attended the summit.

Saarland’s Minister of Economy, Hellinger, said that thealliance’s goal is “to unite and maintain the German market position in thesteel industry and promote future European development.” The Alliance’s requestat the meeting was that EU emission standards and reforms Treat the industryfairly in an innovative context. At the same time, it is emphasized that steelwill remain an indispensable resource in countries with low carbon dioxideemissions.

In his opening speech, German Foreign Minister Haike Maaspointed out that according to a new analysis of the World Economic Forum, nocountry has the ability to innovate like Germany. This also brings hope to thesteel industry: “Steel is not a museum, and steel is the future.”