BERLIN: BASF, Europe’s largest chemicals company, has recruited
Deutsche Bank executive Klaus Escher to head a new communications office
in the capital.
Escher joined Deutsche Bank as a trainee in 1995 and was due to take
over the bank’s nine-strong public affairs department when he was
poached by BASF. He is a former chairman of the Young Christian
Democrats, and is involved with the party’s national committee. As head
of political communications in BASF’s 150-strong PR and market
communication department, Escher will lead a team of two in the Berlin
office and two at BASF’s HQ in Ludwigshafen.
The Berlin office, which opens in January 2000, will be an information
centre for politicians and businessmen.
The German parliament moved to Berlin this spring and agencies and
businesses have been opening lobbying offices in the capital since
then.
Escher said: ’The situation in Berlin will be something like the beltway
in Washington: an internal political culture that you have to be aware
of.’
Edited by David McCormack.
