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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is set to visit Germany and Poland next week on a weeklong business mission aimed at shoring up relationships with key partners and driving new investment relationships.
Mr. Kemp is fresh off local appearances in which he outlined, sometimes emphatically, his legislative and budgetary priorities for 2025.
While his messaging in the annual State of the State address Thursday focused on local issues like lowering taxes, boosting infrastructure spending and achieving tort reform, the governor in a news release Friday outlined the importance of international partnerships to job-creation efforts all over the state.
“Over the last six years, international companies have invested over $38 billion in Georgia, creating more than 58,000 new opportunities for Georgians in every corner of the state, with communities outside of metro Atlanta attracting over 80 percent of those jobs,” Mr. Kemp said in a news release.
His visit is to come at a rocky time for Germany. Beset with a political crisis with snap elections scheduled for Feb. 23, the country his week announced that 2024 brought a second straight year of recession.
But the well-documented struggles of Europe’s largest economy and the public travails of auto-makers with large plants in the Southeast, like Volkswagen, haven’t soured Georgia on the promise of a market where it has been present for decades.
“As we prepare to return money to Georgia taxpayers and invest in key areas like public safety and education, this mission is an opportunity to reinforce that collaboration [with Germany] while also opening dialogues with an emerging market, ensuring a brighter future for all Georgians,” Mr. Kemp said in the news release.
Automotive suppliers from Germany have invested more than $830 million in investment in the state during the last two decades, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as manufacturers like VW and BMW set up shop in the region. Atlanta is also home to the North American headquarters of both Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. Georgia’s European office, opened in 1973 by the late President Jimmy Carter when he served as governor, is now located in Munich.
The trip will be at least the third to Germany for Mr. Kemp, who once visited Porsche in Stuttgart to see production of the all-electric Taycan.
More recently, he traveled to Hamburg to see the smelting operations of Aurubis, which just opened the state’s largest German investment project ever: an $800 million smelting operation in Augusta.
At a grand opening, Mr. Kemp called Aurubis “one of my favorite projects ever,” noting that it exemplifies the promise of Georgia’s global partnerships.
Six other German investors are on Mr. Kemp’s public itinerary, though his offices says he will also “attend diplomatic and relationship-building opportunities.”
More from the state on these firms (with corresponding Global Atlanta stories):
BASF: BASF’s manufacturing presence in Georgia includes operations in Attapulgus, Edgar, and Savannah.
Gerresheimer: Gerresheimer first established a production facility in Peachtree City in 1993 and expanded in 2009 with the establishment of a Technical Competence Center (TCC). The company announced additional expansions in Georgia in December 2023 and May 2024: Now 30 Years In, German Firm Expands Again in Peachtree City
Carcoustics: In 2017, the company established Carcoustics USA South Inc. in Buford, including a central research center and a manufacturing presence.
KIRCHHOFF Automotive: KIRCHHOFF Automotive opened an assembly facility in Lawrenceville in 2023: Gwinnett Nets BMW, Mercedes-Benz Supplier Set to Create 73 Jobs
GEDIA Automotive Group: In 2020, GEDIA Automotive Group announced an advanced manufacturing facility that will begin production with a focus on parts for electric vehicles in the greater Dalton area: German Manufacturer to Make Electric Vehicle Parts in Northwest Georgia
The latter two companies are based in North Rhine-Westphalia, the only German state with a trade office in Georgia.
The release did not note which firms the governor plans to visit in Poland, one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies, but there could be a defense element: Poland’s trade with Georgia shot from $118 million five years ago to $1.2 billion in 2023 as the country took delivery of Marietta-made Lockheed Martin C-130J aircraft. On previous overseas trips to places like the country of Georgia, Mr. Kemp has visited National Guard troops.
Just after Mr. Kemp’s return, the community will have two chances to hear from German Consul General Melanie Moltmann about Germany’s political and economic situation:
Mr. Kemp was also in Europe last January, when he made his second appearance at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, which is happening again next week.
After that trip, he traveled that country reinforcing relationships with Swiss investors, members of the Georgia team in tow. Similarly, the economic development department will accompany the governor on the Germany
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