Siemens AG wants over the next few years to increase the proportion of its business that it does abroad to 60% of the total by 1995, from the present 51%. The announcement was made at the Hanover Fair last week – the original one, not the computer section that was hived off and brought forward to March. The company says that the target will require 6% annual increase in foreign business. At the same time it intends to increase the proportion of output that it manufactures outside West Germany in order to reduce its exposure to currency risks and contribute to a reduction in West Germany’s big balance of trade surplus. It asked for more help from the government in export finance and export credit guarantees to enable German companies to retain their share of the world market, and wants a relaxation of cartel laws to enable German companies to merge more easily and remain competitive. Siemens also called on the West German government to increase the aid it gives for domestic research into microelectronics, since Europe was in danger of lagging the US and Japan in chip technology.
