【DE】TOP-CLASS CAST FOR THE THIRD CRAFT POLICY FORUM OST |

How can successful company succession in the craft sector succeed and what framework conditions must the policy of the federal and state governments create for this? This is the main topic of the third Craft Policy Forum East (HAFO). As part of the Central German craft fair, on the 15th February 2023 the prime ministers of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia – Michael Kretschmer, Reiner Haseloff and Bodo Ramelow, the Federal Government Commissioner for East Germany, Carsten Schneider, as well as the newly elected President of the Central Association of German Crafts, Jörg Dittrich, at the Congress Center Leipzig on the generational change in crafts.

“We are looking forward to a top-class craft policy forum East and an exciting panel discussion on the challenge of generational change throughout East Germany,” says Martin Buhl-Wagner, Managing Director of Leipziger Messe. Everyone knows how difficult it is to find a craftsman in a timely manner. More than thirty years after the turnaround, many company founders are now on the verge of retirement and are looking for a successor. This makes it all the more important to clarify now how politics, crafts and business should act. We are happy to offer the perfect platform for this complex topic with the HAFO in the Congress Center Leipzig,” says Buhl-Wagner.

Impulses from science

The Handwerkspolitische Forum Ost, organized by the East German Chambers of Crafts and the Leipzig Trade Fair in conjunction, is a meeting place for broad social life – from business, politics and crafts to science and civil society representatives. The HAFO is enriched by a keynote speech by Dr. Christian Welzbacher, Director Heinz-Piest-Institut für Handwerkstechnik at Leibniz Universität Hannover. Jens Hennig, Managing Director of Backhaus Hennig GmbH, also reports on how the succession planning can be implemented in practice in concrete terms using the example of his own company.

Craftsmanship presents itself at the Leipzig Trade Fair

The Handwerkspolitische Forum Ost will take place as part of the Mitteldeutsche handwerksmesse, which will take place from 11th to 19th. February 2023 presented the diversity and quality of the craft. In cooperation with the exhibiting trades, the Chambers of Crafts from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern invite you to watch, participate and discuss in exhibition hall 5. After a two-year break, the Mitteldeutsche handwerksmesse is back in conjunction with HAUS-GARTEN-FREIZEIT. The Craft Policy Forum East thus clocks back in at regular intervals after it took place once in May 2022 parallel to OTWorld – the world’s leading trade fair for aid supply.

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