By Christoph Steitz FRANKFURT, Jan 30 (Reuters) - German industry bosses including the CEOs of Siemens Energy and Thyssenkrupp will join Economy Minister Katherina Reiche on an upcoming trip to Saudi
Siemens Energy, Thyssenkrupp CEOs to join German minister on Saudi Arabia trip,
German Business Leaders' Trip to Saudi Arabia
By Christoph Steitz and Andreas Rinke
Focus on Energy and Economic Relations
FRANKFURT/BERLIN, Jan 30 (Reuters) - German industry bosses including the CEOs of Siemens Energy and Thyssenkrupp will join Economy Minister Katherina Reiche on a trip to Saudi Arabia, four people briefed on the matter said, as Europe's top economy seeks to diversify its energy supply.
Expected Outcomes and Agreements
Reiche is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia from February 1 to 3 to expand economic relations, a spokesperson for her ministry said, only days after she highlighted the need for new alliances in light of rising geopolitical tensions.
The trip will focus on energy, a critical issue for Germany - Saudi Arabia's most important economic partner in the European Union - which has suffered from soaring costs after losing access to cheap gas from Russia.
Christian Bruch, CEO of power equipment maker Siemens Energy, and Miguel Lopez, who leads industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp, will be part of the business delegation travelling with Reiche, the sources said.
Uniper boss Michael Lewis, EnBW CEO Georg Stamatelopoulos and Egbert Laege, in charge of Sefe Group, will also take part, they added.
Thyssenkrupp, EnBW and Sefe confirmed the participation of their CEOs.
Siemens Energy and Uniper declined to comment.
The ministry spokesperson said a number of memorandums of understanding would be signed on the trip, "focusing on energy projects, innovation, deep technology, artificial intelligence, and especially in the start-up sector".
Further underscoring the region's relevance to Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from February 4 to 6.
Both the Gulf states' investments in the German economy and efforts to diversify energy supplies are on the agenda, a government spokesperson said, adding Berlin hoped "to see increased investment activity".
Qatar is a key shareholder in some of Germany's biggest and most well-known companies, including Volkswagen, RWE and Deutsche Bank.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Kirsten Donovan)
