4th April 2017 Vienna, Austria
Modest yet famous: Salzburg
I began my current posting to Austria on the platform at Salzburg station (Hauptbahnhof) at around midnight on 1 August 2016.
My plan was to spend four weeks polishing my German at a top language school in the city and to reacquaint myself with all things Austrian after an absence of 29 years.
I got more than I bargained for.
For a small-ish place, Salzburg has a remarkable combination of international recognition and tradition. The province includes dynamic modern companies, tourism and agriculture. The city of Salzburg (population 153,869) is twinned with Beijing (population 19,612,368).
That’s what I call punching above your weight.
So I was delighted to return to Salzburg recently. The visit began with a meeting with Red Bull in Fuschl am See. The famous energy drink company has a world-wide operation, including more than 1,000 people in the UK running the Red Bull Racing Team (did you know that 7 out of 10 Formula 1 teams have a base in the UK?) as well as important media and branding operations.
In a discussion of Red Bull’s impressive future plans and the implications of the UK’s decision to leave the EU I set out why the UK remained a strong target for foreign direct investment (FDI) and noted a number of recent companies who had moved or grown their operations there.
We then visited Jaguar Land Rover at their Salzburg HQ. Jaguar Land Rover sales world-wide have grown rapidly in recent years, with the Austrian market playing its part: Jaguar sales more than doubled here in 2016. We discussed JLR’s plans, including how we could work with them and the stream of new models they plan to release in the months and years ahead.
After a lively discussion with the Salzburger Nachrichten at their office in the Karolingerstrasse, I met our new Honorary Consul, Dr. Harald Kronberger, and viewed the consulate. We attended together a ceremony, attended by leading political figures and the Salzburg consular community, to mark the occasion.
The work of our network of honorary consuls is vital to what we do in Austria, particularly looking after distressed British subjects. I wish Harald the very best of luck over the years ahead and thank him for his taking on this vital role.
We also used the visit to call on the provincial Governor (Landeshauptmann) of Salzburg, Dr. Wilfried Haslauer. I had met him unofficially during my language-learning in Salzburg and he was also kind enough to come to our ceremony marking the opening of the consulate. We enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion in his office in a former bishop’s palace and he urged me to visit the city during this summer’s Salzburg Festival.
My only problem with the visit was that it was too short: I didn’t have time to see everyone I would have wanted. So I shall just have to go back again – watch this space.