From April 11 to April 16, 2019, Austrian Federal Minister of Finance Hartwig Löger journeyed to the United States to engage in diplomatic meetings and promote Austrian businesses.

The trip culminated in a conference in New York City, jointly organized by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance and the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. The conference was titled “Austria – The Sound of Finance” and was dedicated to advance U.S. investments in Austria. It provided an opportunity to network with more than 25 CEOs and CFOs as well as Investor Relation Officers of Austria’s leading stock listed companies (Agrana, AMAG Austria Metall, Austrian Post, AT & S, BAWAG Group, CA Immo, Erste Group, EVN, FACC, Kapsch TrafficCom, Mayr-Melnhof Packaging, OMV, Palfinger, Raiffeisen Bank International, Rosenbauer International, S immo, Startup300, Strabag, Telekom Austria, UNIQA Insurance Group, Verbund, Vienna Insurance Group, Vienna International Airport, and Wienerberger).

The distinguished speakers included the Austrian Federal Minister of Finance himself, as well as Margarete Schramböck, Austrian Federal Minister of Digital and Economic Affairs, Ewald Nowotny, Governor of the Austrian National Bank, Hikmet Ersek, CEO Western Union and Austrian Honorary Consul in Denver, and Bruce C. Kasman, Chief Economist at J.P. Morgan Chase. The conference drew several dozen investors and every company present had several one-on-one meetings with potential investors.

Prior to their engagements in New York City, Federal Minister Löger accompanied by Ewald Nowotny, Governor of the Austrian National Bank, visited the nation’s capital and participated in the annual Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). On this occasion, Federal Minister Löger and Governor Nowotny met with Poul Thomsen, Director of the IMF’s European Department, as well as with Jeffrey Franks, IMF’s Mission Chief for Austria.

At the World Bank Federal Minister Löger attended the Development Committee meeting as chair of the Austrian constituency group and had the opportunity to talk to Kristalina Georgieva, interim President of the World Bank, as well as Cyril Muller and Axel van Trotsenburg, both Vice Presidents of the World Bank.

While in Washington, D.C., Federal Minister Löger also held a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin. Aside from discussing recent international trade tensions, they were also addressing new taxation measures regarding the digital economy which Austria is planning to implement.

All photos from “The Sound of Finance” conference (c) Austrian Trade Commission New York office, more from this event on flickr

Edited by: Franziska Riel