German SMEs are facing an ever fiercer competition for buying markets: The companies are tackling problems resulting from their small size. That is the importers' perspective. Enterprises from developing countries and emerging markets are competing intensively for selling markets, regarding which they have a general information deficit. That is the exporters' perspective.

It is in the interest of developing countries and emerging markets to boost their private sectors: This is the only way to create jobs and to generate taxes. These are the pre-conditions for the countries` ability to improve their infrastructure, their educational systems and, thus, their economies in an autonomous fashion.

The IPD wants to contribute to the economic evolution in developing and emerging countries. Its service strategy towards German importers is characterised by consistent demand orientation. From our point of view, it is more promising to find the right suppliers for a client determined to make a purchase than vice versa. This is the very approach the IPD follows.

In order to be successful specialists with in-depth sector know-how are here indispensable. The IPD therefore initially concentrates on a small number of industries and countries. The success achieved so far, which is also founded on pooling already existing organisational expertise instead of competing with established institutions, is encouraging.

Gebhard Weiss, Managing Director