Bitterfeld - "Bayer's commitment to the Bitterfeld-Wolfen region is impressive and is giving a whole region a future," commented Matthias Gabriel, Minister of Economics and Technology in the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt at the inauguration of the fourth production facility at Bayer Bitterfeld GmbH. Matthias Gabriel and Dr. Udo Oels of Bayer's Board of Management inaugurated the new ion exchange resins plant on Thursday, April 22, 1999.

Bayer has now invested about DM 1 billion in the Bitterfeld site and created over 650 secure and competitive jobs there. According to the Minister: "Bayer decided to invest here very early on and that had an enormous knock-on effect on other companies. In 1998 sales generated by the chemical industry in Saxony-Anhalt exceeded the DM 5 billion threshold for the first time. Chemical companies in Saxony-Anhalt account for 45 percent of total sales generated by the Eastern German chemical industry and Bayer has made an enormous contribution to this."

Dr. Udo Oels of Bayer's Board of Management singled out "social responsibility" as the main reason for the company's decision to set up Bayer Bitterfeld GmbH. "As an international group based in Germany, we felt we had a corporate and social responsibility to do everything in our power to support the economic regeneration of Eastern Germany."

Dr. Oels specifically praised the "fast and unbureaucratic handling of permit procedures, which could not have proceeded more smoothly" and pointed out that this did not entail any reduction in the high environmental and safety standards. The same goes for the Bitterfeld Wolfen Chemical Park, which provides much of the infrastructure used by Bayer Bitterfeld GmbH. Dr. Oels commented that "the establishment of this Chemical Park is an excellent example of what can be achieved when industry and the state have a common goal."