Lower Saxony

Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) is Germany’s second biggest state, in respect of its area of around 47,618 km², and the fourth biggest with regard to its population of nearly 8 millions.
Hannover is the state capital and, at the same time, the largest city of the state with around 517,000 inhabitants.
Following to the break-up of the Eastern bloc and the expansion of the European Union, Niedersachsen now finds itself at the centre of Europe. With its excellent motorway and rail links, Niedersachsen has developed into an important junction and logistics centre between Eastern and Western Europe as well as North Europe. Additionally, there is a an international airport capable of expansion in Hannover- Langenhagen, numerous seaports with direct access to the international network of sea transport paths and a well developed network of inland water-ways. With the future JadeWeserPort, the mega project of a deep sea port for super containerships of the future, a new turntable for commerce and economy from North- and Eastern Europe to the point of Far East will be created in Wilhelmshaven until 2011.
The economy of Niedersachsen is characterised by the dominant role of the automotive industry and its component suppliers. The highly productive agriculture and the nutrition industry which processes the agricultural products, are of great importance. Aside, a diversity of trades with numerous important enterprises and large settlements of German as well as foreign groups have developed over several decades. This includes the chemicalindustry, which ranks 6th in the manufacturing industry in Niedersachsen in terms of turnover. The product range of Niedersachsen’s chemistry is diversified. It ranges from non-organic and organic basic materials to pharmaceutical products, scents and flavours, paints, varnishes, detergents and personal hygiene products, insecticides and pesticides, to special coating and special synthetic materials, as well as a multitude of other products. The association ChemCoast was created at the beginning of 2005. This institution aims to support and coordinate the participating chemical enterprises in their joint search for new ways to strengthen their economic power and sustainability, improve their competitiveness and the security of employment. As the first step, the cross linking of locations with an ethylene pipeline and the connection to the existing raw material networks has been tackled. One of ChemCoast’s important tasks for the future is the development of a marketing strategy across the federal states that should combine the interests of the individual chemical locations and jointly market them throughout the world. The government of Niedersachsen supports the aim to strengthen the local chemical site.