By Birgit Heitfeld
Special to The Blade

Hanover, Germany - Gov. Bob Taft spent the last days of his business and investment mission to Germany yesterday at the world's largest industrial trade fair, selling Ohio as a great place to do business.

"Our mission has been very successful", Mr. Taft said at the annual Hanover Trade Fair, a gathering for business leaders from around the globe.

The governor said the most memorable experience of his eight-day "Deutschland" tour was the visit last week to Daimler-Chrysler in Stuttgart.

"It was a good opportunity to listen to one of our largest customers in Ohio with about 14,000 jobs across the state, and also to encourage them to consider Ohio for future projects", he said.

He said building and intensifying relationships with German companies was the major goal of of the trade mission, which include business and economic development officials from Northwest Ohio. 

"That's the core of our economic growth", the governor added. "But it's also very important for the universities to be involved. We want more relationships between universitites in Germany and Ohio so that they can strengthen their expertise through that kind of collaboration."

Mr. Taft said research for the practical application of products is important.

"We want to improve on that and attract more world class researchers to Ohio, especially in certain areas that can lead to job creation, for example biotechnology, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or information development."

Despite the tight and sometimes tiring mission schedule, Mr. Taft was satisfied with the "well-planned orchestration" of the events and receptions in Germany" and with the food.

Before heading to Hanover, the delegation stopped in Radevormwald east of Duesseldorf to visit Thoelen Haertetechnik, a family-owned commercial head-treatment company.

The company had purchased equipment from Surface Combustion of Maumee. "They invested nearly $2 million dollars in 1998", said William J. Bernard, president and CEO of the Maumee firm. "And I believe there is more potential in the future."

Bruce Johnson, Ohio development director, estimates that the next deal with Thoelen Haertetechnik could be worth $1 million. Mr. Johnson sees the potential for more jobs generated for Ohio - by the big German automotive companies as well as by the smaller suppliers.

With the punctuality of a Swiss watch, the delegation arrived yesterday in Lower Saxony to attend the opening of the trade fair as German Chancellor Gerhart Schroeder and Heinrich von Pierer, Siemens chairman, welcomed 7,000 companies from 69 countries.

In his opening speech to the most important industry fair of the world, Chancellor Schroeder encouraged the industry leaders to show "cautious optimism".

The Chancellor warned that the pay increases in the German engineering industry that the unions are fighting for should be moderate in order not to hurt the expected boost.

The Ohio trade mission used the trade fair to host a reception with 350 business people, at the most busy booth around", as Mr. Johnson put it.

The Ohio booth had little candies and stickers with the Ohio flag as giveaways for visitors.

"Ohio has 140 German-owned companies", Mr. Taft observed. "Over the last years, $5 billion investment originated from German companies. That's the source of our economic growth."

Asked when he will be back in Germany? "I hope I'll come back if I have the chance of a second term as a governor. That is, if I'm reelected in November."