Remarks With Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the Hannover Messe Trade Fair in Hannover, Germany

President Obama. Please have a seat. Guten morgen! Once again, I want to thank Chancellor Merkel and everyone here at Hannover Messe for welcoming us. Angela and I already spoke last night. I'm giving a speech later this morning. So I'm going to be very brief.

As I said last night, so much of our global economy and the growth that creates jobs is driven by the spirit of innovation—discovery, invention—and then turning those ideas into new products, companies, new industries, new services that create good jobs. So here at the U.S. pavilion, we are proud to showcase America's commitment to innovation. You'll see pioneering companies that are changing the way that we live, the way that we work, the way that we learn. So this is another chance for me to tell everyone to come here and buy "Made in America."

Last night, I also talked about why companies around the world that are looking for where to set up shop should select America. And here at the pavilion, you'll find States, cities, and communities from across the United States who are ready to welcome you with open arms.

Of course, Angela may have different ideas when we go to the German pavilion. [Laughter] But this friendly competition is healthy. It is what has made our two countries some of the most competitive in the world, our workers the best in the world, our products the best in the world.

So again, I want to thank Angela and everyone at Hannover Messe. I expect that the results—as a result of this great event, we'll see more partnerships, more trade, and more good jobs for our people on both sides of the Atlantic. Angela and I are going to go check out some exhibits, but first I know that she wants to say a few words as well.

[At this point, Chancellor Merkel spoke in German, and her remarks were translated by an interpreter as follows.]

Chancellor Merkel. Mr. President, dear Barack, I am delighted that we are able to welcome so many guests from the United States here today. You have more than 400 exhibitors, more than 400 companies that are presenting their goods, that are presenting their products here this year as guest country, as partner country of the Hannover Fair. And I'm very much looking forward that later on we're going to take a tour and we're going to be presented very tangible examples of what companies produce here and what the companies themselves are doing.

Well, I think I can safely speak on behalf of the German business community as well when I welcome you most cordially—you, the representatives of your companies here—as friends. We know you are our friends, you are partners. But you're also very strong companies, and we know that you want to present your products here. You want to be strong. But our companies, too, want to present their products, want to be strong, they want to learn from you. We want to learn from each other. We want to get closer to each other, because we both want to shape innovation. We want to be forward looking in this world of tomorrow.

And I think we're—all of us are very interested in bringing our products to bear in this world that is getting more and more interesting—to present our products here at the Hannover Fair. And we're—hope and trust that this Hannover Fair again will be a highlight of industrial production and of trade. It is a top-of-the-world event as regards industrial trade fairs, and we trust that it's going to be the same this year again.

But I think we should not forget that, obviously, companies are presenting themselves here during this industrial trade fair, but behind companies are always and invariably the members of the workforce. Workers, ordinary Americans, want to secure their jobs—and ordinary Germans, for that matter—who want safe jobs, who want to secure their jobs, who want to work for their prospects. And so that's never an abstract concept. But it's also so that such an industrial fair also is about people, about people on both sides of the Atlantic. So what we have here today is also a piece of America that we see and that we meet.

And again, a very warm welcome to all of you.

[Chancellor Merkel spoke in English as follows.]

Chancellor Merkel. And now I learn the proof of the pudding is the eating. Let's start. [Laughter]