International investors are showing steadily increasing interest in and awareness of Eastern Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein.
This is the conclusion of Stig Rømer Winther, Managing Director of Femern Belt Development, following his seventh participation in Expo Real, the international real estate and investment fair in Munich.
“One reason is that the Germans have increasingly begun to highlight the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link as an infrastructure project that has fundamentally changed the conditions for business development on both sides of the Fehmarnbelt,” says Stig Rømer Winther, who attended Expo Real together with representatives from Business Lolland-Falster and Business Vordingborg at the exhibition stand of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.
An Important Growth Region
“Has the prospect of further delays to the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link, and particularly the completion of the German hinterland connections and the Fehmarn Sound Tunnel - which may not be completed until 2035 - weakened investor interest?”
“The delays affect the work carried out by us and other business development organisations. Any uncertainty about when the full capacity of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link will become available to businesses creates uncertainty. In the worst case, this could mean that some of the projects we are working on will be postponed by one, two or three years.
However, we are not seeing projects being abandoned altogether. The Fehmarnbelt Region and the entire area between Hamburg and Copenhagen represent such an important growth region that many businesses and investors want to establish a presence here. This is clearly reflected in the number of enquiries we receive from both Danish and international investors,” says Stig Rømer Winther.
He also emphasises the importance of developing new industrial parks in Southern Zealand, Ringsted, Sorø and Lolland.
“I am pleased with the positive dialogue we are having with municipalities about the development of new industrial sites and the associated infrastructure,” says Stig Rømer Winther.
Joint Danish-German Marketing
As part of efforts to attract international investors to the Fehmarnbelt Region, work is now underway to strengthen cooperation between Eastern Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein. One possibility being explored is the establishment of a joint Danish-German exhibition stand at Expo Real as early as 2028.
“In early 2027, we will begin preliminary discussions on a more formal and committed approach to jointly marketing the Fehmarnbelt Region. This initiative fits very well with the Interreg project Fehmarnbelt Growth Region, which we have launched together with our German partners and whose long-term objective is to establish a joint Danish-German development agency,” says Stig Rømer Winther.