Greetings from Mr. Thomas Jurk -
Saxon State Minister for Economy and Labour

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Vitality and congeniality are characteristic of Saxony and its people. Saxony is a great place to live, learn and work. Its cities of Leipzig, Chemnitz and Dresden look back on a great cultural and historic past while attracting many young people today as scientific and industrial centres.

Saxony’s smaller towns and cities are also have much to offer. There is Riesa, for example, the famous sports venue,and thousand-year-old Meissen. There is Freiberg, seat of the oldest mining university in the world, and there are Görlitz and its twin Zgorzelec across the river in Poland, which anticipated European unification. The regions around our towns and cities offer a true paradise, too – with lakes, hiking areas and vineyards, with the famous Saxon Switzerland sandstone range, known for its castles and climbing routes, and with the Erz Mountains with their alpine and Nordic skiing areas.

Saxony’s secondary and vocational schools lay the foundations for a successful education. In addition to the state schools, Saxony has 43 independently operated schools including two international schools in Dresden and Leipzig, as well as Waldorf schools and confessional schools. Saxony has always focused on educating young, practically trained specialists, which means university graduates and skilled workers go through a dual vocational training system which gives them the best education for their future jobs. Obtaining a higher education entrance qualification (“Abitur”) takes only 12 years in Saxony, and many industries and renowned companies are convinced of the excellent education standards at Saxon universities. Consequently, Saxon universities boast endowed chairs of DaimlerChrysler, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom AG, which were set up to train tomorrow’s experts. Our education does not stop at national borders either, as the Zittau International Graduate School (IHI) shows, running extensive exchange programmes with our new EU neighbours the Czech Republic and Poland. Saxony is located in both Western and Eastern Europe. And for this reason, Saxony is able to combine the strengths of both in one economic region with many unique advantages. Saxony’s infrastructure, its IT landscape and its industries are among the most advanced in the world. Its infrastructure with international airports in Dresden and Leipzig, excellent road, motorway and railway networks and its geographical location at the centre of major European markets provide ideal conditions for procurement and sales. The concepts of the WorldSkills Competition as an exciting contest of different vocational education and training processes, energy and knowledge is popular with the youth of Saxony. The Leipzig region will take up the challenge of hosting the WorldSkills Competition with the experience of an attractive economic and trade fair centre and of a seasoned event host. The Federal State of Saxony therefore gladly supports the bid as well as the preparations of Saxon participants.

I am convinced that Leipzig is a great choice for the WorldSkills 2013 in Germany!

Yours sincerely

Thomas Jurk
Saxon State Minister for Economy and Labour