600 guests attend inauguration of new halls and exhibition grounds

The �new Koelnmesse� was officially opened on Monday, January 16, 2006, at a gala ceremony attended by approximately 600 guests from the world of politics and the sectors represented at Koelnmesse trade fairs. The four new Northern Halls and the comprehensively modernized exhibition grounds were formally handed over to their future users. The inauguration ceremony also marked the kick-off of imm cologne, the International Furniture Fair, which will be presenting the worldwide product range of the furniture and interior decoration sector over the next week.

All of the guest speakers emphasized the broad range of opportunities that will be opened up by the new Cologne exhibition grounds in the trade fair industry, which remains fiercely competitive.

- Koelnmesse President and CEO Jochen Witt referred to a �quantum leap in quality�: �These exhibition grounds will give us a good head start in a competitive environment. The key criteria here are the excellent quality of our guests� stay in Cologne and the maximum flexibility we provide through our outstanding infrastructure.�

- According to Fritz Schramma, Mayor of Cologne and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, �A strong Koelnmesse also benefits the economy of this entire region. Today marks a giant step forward for the part of Cologne that stretches along the right bank of the Rhine. The complex that is developing here is making our city younger, more lively and more contemporary.�

- Helmut L�bke, President of the Association of the German Furniture Industry, who was representing the exhibitors and the furniture sector, hailed the �strong momentum� that the new exhibition grounds will be generating for the global trade fair imm cologne. Koelnmesse has �made a bold decision at exactly the right time and acted with creativity and commitment to successfully realize this visionary project. We furniture suppliers are among the beneficiaries as we meet here today to keep the furniture industry booming with our innovative designs.�

- The Minister for Federal and European Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Michael Breuer, spoke of �a red-letter day for Cologne and for North Rhine-Westphalia.� The inauguration of the new halls, he said, �is the culmination of this stage of Koelnmesse�s visionary investment process. It represents a clear commitment to the future of Cologne as a trade fair location.� This commitment, he said, is �an important one, especially in times of general economic transformation and increasingly fierce competition in the globalized trade fair sector.�

- Representing the federal government, Hartmut Schauerte, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics and Technology, emphasized the connection between Germany�s continuing success as an exporting nation and the country�s �intelligent trade fair structure,� which he called �the spearhead of sales for German industry.� The new Koelnmesse, he said, is a �valuable and smoothly functioning key component of the German trade fair industry,� located on exhibition grounds that �can meet the challenges of the future. It�s a top player in the international trade fair industry. And that�s good for Germany!�

It took Koelnmesse only 16 months to construct the ultramodern trade fair halls, including a new Congress Center and entrance area. The new halls replace the exhibition space formerly provided by the historic Rhineside Halls, which were returned to the city of Cologne at the end of 2005. In the future, they will house one of the largest office complexes in Europe, with the broadcaster RTL leasing most of the premises. The new halls are extremely flexible and can be used for a variety of events. They are particularly well-suited for exhibitions of industrial goods. Meanwhile, the entire exhibition grounds have been restructured. With 284,000 m� of gross exhibition space, Koelnmesse remains the world�s fourth-largest trade fair venue. Its 11 halls now form a compact and unified whole, with the new Trade Fair Boulevard serving as the central axis that connects the buildings and houses a variety of services. What�s more, visitors� quality of stay has been significantly improved throughout the exhibition grounds: the catering services have been modernized and new restaurants have been added. The construction work on the site will be concluded in the summer of 2006 after the new Entrance South, which directly connects the halls with the ICE railroad station K�ln Messe/Deutz, is finished.

Further information is available at: www.koelnmesse.de

Photographs: www.koelnmesse.de > Press > Photos > Current photographs 2006