Cecilia Malmström, Swedish politician, and Dr. Torsten Bahke, CEO of DIN
© DIN

What does the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) mean for the German economy? To better understand the potential impact of the TTIP, this topic was the focus of this year's Transatlantic Business Forum held on 23 February 2015 in Berlin. Hosted by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) the event was attended by BDI President Ulrich Grillo DIHK President Eric Schweitzer, and 300 experts from industry, politics and civil society, including European Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström, and the German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel.

Market access and regulatory cooperation was the subject of a panel discussion in which Dr Torsten Bahke, Chairman of DIN's Executive Board, took part. "Common standards help remove barriers to trade and promote the exchange of goods and services", said Bahke. The most promising approach is to single out specific topics that, at first, can be dealt with in bilateral standards and specifications. Such topics include highly innovative topics and technologies for which an established body of standards does not yet exist. The (German-language) programme of the forum is available at: www.taw-forum.de