Schwerin (dpa/mv) - State Secretary for Economic Affairs Jochen Schulte, as industry representative and coordinator for the maritime economy, is to bring future technologies to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and open up new perspectives for the ailing shipbuilding industry. The cabinet appointed the 60-year-old SPD politician to the newly created office on Tuesday.
In their coalition agreement signed a year ago, the SPD and the left had agreed to set up this post as a reaction to the renewed bankruptcy of the shipyards and the country's ongoing industrial weakness. The fact that Schulte is taking on the role of state secretary is a reaction to the initial criticism that the red-red state government is creating new posts and thus concealing a lack of action.
The aim of the state government is to increase value creation in the state with the implementation of the industrial policy concept 2030, to strengthen the domestic economy and to raise the wage level, said Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) after the cabinet meeting. "I am convinced that Jochen Schulte, with his many years of experience in economic policy and his meritorious commitment to our maritime economy, the associated networking in the economy and not least because of his work as State Secretary for Economic Affairs, will provide important impetus here," she said optimistic.
The lawyer, who comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, sat for the SPD in the Schwerin state parliament from 2002 to the end of 2021, where he was, among other things, chairman of the committee for economy, labor and tourism. After the government was formed in November 2021, he gave up his mandate and moved to the Ministry of Economic Affairs as State Secretary.
