Aiwanger

Deputy Governor of the German State of Bavaria and Minister of Economic Affairs,

Regional Development and Energy

Aiwanger has been the Deputy Governor of the German State of Bavaria and Minister of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy since November 2018. His political positions include President of the Free Voters Party in Bavaria, Member of the State Assembly, Member of the Rothenburg City Council, Member of the Landshut District Council, and President of the Free Voters Party in the German Federal Government. In addition, he also serves as the chairman of the hunting association in the Rothenburg region of Bavaria. He received a master’s degree in agricultural engineering from the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences and won a scholarship from Hanns Seidel Stiftung.

Bavaria has a strong economic foundation, well-developed infrastructure and sound economic structure. Munich, its capital, is the largest city in southern Germany and one of the most prosperous cities in Europe. In 2019, the GDP of Bavaria reached EUR 632.9 billion, up by 0.5% yearly, achieving growth for the tenth consecutive year and accounting for 18.4% of Germany’s total, second only to NRW. China is Bavaria’s largest trading partner. In 2019, the total trade volume between China and Bavaria was EUR 33.89 billion, accounting for 16.5% of the total trade volume between China and Germany. At present, more than 2,000 Bavaria enterprises have maintained trade relations with China, more than 100 Bavaria enterprises have set up production lines in China and more than 600 companies have set up branches or trade representative offices in China, including Siemens, Audi, BMW, Allianz, Airbus, Munich Re’s ERGO Group and other Fortune Global 500 companies as well as industry leaders such as Knorr Bremse and Diehl. About 300 Chinese companies have set up businesses in Bavaria, including Huawei, Alibaba and Weichai Power. In July 1987, Bavaria and Shandong established sister-state relations. Over the past 30 years, the two sides have conducted fruitful cooperation and exchanges in various fields.