Industry & trade
Some questions cannot be answered without doing research. It is best to find out something about the topic before each Tandem meeting.

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- What are your country’s most important economic sectors? Which branches have been around for several decades and which industries and services have developed only recently?
- Which goods are imported? Which products are manufactured in your country and are especially well known and popular abroad?
- Which raw materials are mined in your country and where are they processed? Are there any raw materials that are not mined anymore because their exploitation is no longer profitable?
- Does your country have trade unions? If so, which ones and how many members do they have? Which tasks do they undertake (pay negotiations, improving working conditions)?
- Do workers have a right to strike? If so, can you remember a major strike of the last years? What were the workers’ demands? Which agreement was reached?
- Do people have financial security when they lose their job? If so, for how long do you receive financial support and who pays it?
- How can you start up a small business in your country? Which permits do you need? Do you get support (advice, tax reduction, start-up financing)? If so, where can you get advice and practical assistance?
- In which industries do you find medium-sized businesses (less than 500 employees, annual turnover under 50 million EUR)? How important are these businesses for the total economic performance of your country?
- Does your country have regions that are economically underdeveloped? If so, which ones? Are there any special development programmes for these regions?
- How high are the differences in income between the individual regions? Is there an internal migration to economically better developed regions? Do some regions have problems resulting from this emigration, or are there also opportunities?
- How will the regions facing emigration strengthen their profile in the future? Do you know of any good examples in your country?
- Has online shopping forced traditional shops out of business in your country? If so, which shops suffer most from the online competition?
- Which products can you not buy in a shop in your vicinity (ca. 20 km) but only order online?
- In your experience, what is the life time of electronic appliances (computer, mobile phone, laundry machine, television, etc.)? How long do they last? Can they be repaired when they stop functioning, or can they only be disposed of?