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Bauma chooses Canada as partner for 2019 show
April 25, 2017 By Matt Jones
Canada’s status as the world’s seventh largest market for construction machinery is one of the reasons the country was selected.Canada has been chosen as a partner country for the 2019 edition of Bauma, the massive heavy equipment trade show held every three years in Munich, Germany.
Messe München, which organizes Bauma, and Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, the German Engineering Federation, announced the honour this March.
Reasons cited for the selection include Canada’s status as the world’s seventh largest market for construction machinery, that construction and mining account for 15 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product, and the recent free-trade agreement — known as CETA — between Canada and the European Union.
“In selecting Canada, we were not just selecting a very stable sales market but an attractive and dynamic one as well,” Klaus Dittrich, chairman and CEO of Messe München, said in a news release. “I am certain that our exhibitors will find additional business openings here.”
Johann Sailer, chairman of the Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association within the VDMA and chairman of the Bauma exhibitors’ advisory board, added that CETA — which stands for Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement — “will lend fresh impetus to bilateral trade.” Sailer said his association wants to use Bauma 2019 “and the opportunities afforded by the partner country concept to bind our industries even closer together.”
Despite current weaknesses in mining and oil and gas, Bauma organizers say Canada’s medium-term prospects are positive, citing estimates that the country’s construction industry will grow three per cent annually to 2020. The release also noted major projects such as Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining prospects, as well as billions of dollars in civil engineering projects, such as Montreal hospitals, Vancouver’s airport, a Toronto railway station, and a Calgary cancer treatment centre.
The 2016 version of Bauma attracted a record 583,736 visitors from around 200 countries and featured 3,425 exhibitors from 57 countries. The next Bauma takes place April 8-14, 2019.
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