Wirtschaftspolitik: 15-Minuten-Politiker-Dating und drei geheime Frühstücke: Wie der erste Investitionsgipfel ablaufen wird

Around 500 people, including politicians, entrepreneurs and investors, are expected to gather in the former heating power plant in Berlin-Mitte on Monday evening as the starting point for Germany's first Investment Summit. The German government is following the French model of "Choose France", an investor summit held regularly by President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles.

The venue was changed to Berlin from the initially discussed Neuschwanstein Castle for practical reasons. The excitement in the capital is high due to the illustrious guest list and the important project of attracting more investments to the country. "We are stepping into uncharted territory", says a statement from government circles.

The goal is to find as many concrete investment opportunities as possible and show investors options. Germany aims to mobilize significantly more private capital, as it believes international investors are much more positive about Germany than domestically. Five companies announced investment plans at the opening event on Monday at the old power plant.

The main conference takes place on Tuesday, with 200 international and German CEOs participating at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) on Museum Island. Five million euros are allocated in the federal budget for the conference and the establishment of a new site marketing, reported by a request from the Left.

After the official opening, Merz will speak in front of insiders, along with Siemens-CEO Roland Busch, Helsing drone manufacturer Gundbert Scherf, Sanofi CEO Belén Garijo, Will Marshall from Planet Labs satellite finisher, and a representative of the French energy company Engie. The five companies will report on their recent announced projects in this framework and announce new investments, if any.

The program focuses more on the accompanying events, while the direct conversations between government, investors, and entrepreneurs, which are usually 15 minutes long, take center stage. The participants include politicians, investors, and companies. In addition to Merz, Klingbeil, and Reiche, Verkehrsminister Steffen Bilger (CDU), Forschungsministerin Dorothee Bär (CSU), Bauministerin Verena Hubertz (SPD), Digitalminister Karsten Wildberger (CDU), and the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, among others, are participating.

The list of participants is filled with prominent names from the economy. International investors, such as Larry Fink of Blackrock, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Valérie Baudson of Amundi, Jim Zelter of Apollo Global Management, Marcus Schenck of Lazard, and Ranjan Sen of Advent, will be present, along with heads of major sovereign funds like Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara of Temasek Holdings and Shaikh Saoud Al-Sabah of Kuwait Investment Authority.

International companies like AI company Anthropic's International Chief Matt Clifford, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn's AI leader Jesse Chao, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing's head of business development Brendan Nelson, and Tim Breen of the chipmaker Globalfoundries will also be in attendance. National companies, including CEOs from Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, RWE, Infineon, Henkel, Fresenius, Thyssenkrupp, Tennet, Aleph Alpha, Lufthansa, Covestro, Mercedes, Bayer, and Celonis, have also announced their participation.

Some Chinese managers, including Alain Laim from Xiaomi and Jack Shuai Li from JD, are also invited, raising criticism from the Greens.