Being a partner country at Hannover Messe means making a major appearance that has been politically driven and meticulously prepared across all institutional levels and within the private sector. It also means having the ambition and capability to showcase the nation’s entire industrial ecosystem to the world. In 2026, it will finally be Brazil’s turn. The country wants to demonstrate its technological capabilities and its industrial policy objectives – in a global landscape where reliable partners matter more than ever before.

Quite a few trade fairs have a ‘guest country’ format. This is then highlighted in communications and usually involves sending a number of high-ranking representatives. The partner country at the Hannover Messe, however, is of a completely different calibre. At what remains the world’s most significant industrial trade fair, it is a comprehensive presentation of a country’s entire industrial expertise, supported politically at all participating institutional levels in collaboration with the relevant industry associations. The contribution of a national economy to global value creation is the overarching theme.

Since the then trade fair director Sepp Heckmann launched the format on this political scale in 2005, several event constants have emerged which now also form the framework for Brazil’s grand appearance

• First and foremost: the trade fair. The partner country’s exhibition participation across various themes spanning several halls – and a central exhibition stand with its own large event stage
  top-level political participation at the level of the head of state – at the ceremonial opening and during the joint ‘Chancellor’s tour’ on the first day of the fair.
• German-Brazilian conferences of ministers, high-level conferences of leading industry associations, countless delegations, the partner country’s participation in all relevant specialist forums
• Extensive press coverage in the partner country
• Not to be forgotten: follow-up visits and delegations by exhibitors to the German federal states

For 2026 – a near-routine event for the Hannover Messe – Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has confirmed his attendance: on the opening Sunday, he will open the fair together with Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz.Just how seriously the industrialised nations take the partner country’s participation in Hannover is demonstrated by one fact: since 2005, only one head of state has failed to attend the opening in person – Silvio Berlusconi, due to the Icelandic volcano that paralysed European airspace in 2011. Naturally, the planned walk with the Chancellor will take them not only to the Brazilian stands but also to the fair’s 2026 traditional ‘top dogs’ such as Siemens, Festo, Lapp and Phoenix Contact. Traditionally, these companies prepare their stand designs with a partner country in mind and have the heads of their own national subsidiaries on board.

No serious approach to diversification and resilience can exclude Brazil – and none can exclude Germany.

Brazil was actually the very first partner country to use the older format of the 1980s. In 2012, Brazil was back: albeit at the now-defunct offshoot of the Hannover Messe, the once-global digital trade fair CeBIT.
This had also taken the partner country’s presence to a new and grand scale. President Dilma Rousseff made it very clear at the time that Brazil wanted to be a leading nation in the new digital world. In her entourage back then – and incidentally also present in 2026 – was the humble garage-startup founder Marco Stefanini, who today employs 32,000 people across 41 countries.

In 2026, Brazil returns with many ambitious companies – at what is likely to be a historic moment in the global economy. Global industrial supply chains are breaking down and must be reorganised. Decarbonisation is no longer a distant, pious goal, but an industrial imperative, particularly for Brazil. And geopolitical reliability has become a central factor.It was precisely this context that Rodrigo Baena Soares, the Brazilian Ambassador to Germany, addressed at the preview in Hanover: “No serious approach to diversification and resilience can exclude Brazil – and none can exclude Germany.”

Brazil will be represented by numerous ministers who will meet with their German counterparts for government consultations. The German-Brazilian Business Forum will also take place at the fair, again with high-level participation from both countries. One of the topics there will be the Nova Indústria Brasil programme, which the Lula government has been pursuing since 2024 as a reindustrialisation strategy.

Action please, not just announcements

Germany’s renewed focus on Brazil is based on decades of German corporate presence in the country. Between January and September 2025 alone, 41 new German investment projects in Brazil were announced, with a total volume of 3.5 billion US dollars – more than 90 per cent of these in the manufacturing and energy sectors. Volkswagen is expanding its plant in São Bernardo do Campo at a cost of US$1.26 billion; Siemens Energy is investing US$1.5 billion in a power plant project in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The Mercosur agreement with the EU, which has finally come into force, is raising hopes for closer economic cooperation. Volker Treier, Head of Foreign Trade at the DIHK and a regular guest and partner of Hannover Messe through the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad, has impatiently criticised the 25 years of negotiations spent by the EU on this: “Those who announce partnerships must also implement them. Especially in times of growing uncertainty, reliable and resilient trade relations are needed.” At this week’s presentation of the DIHK “Going International” survey of 2,500 internationally active companies, Treier reported that, aside from India, only the Mercosur region is seen as offering clearly positive business prospects.

Whether your priorities are decarbonisation, digitalisation or energy efficiency – Brazil is ready

The trade and investment agency APEX Brazil is coordinating the overall presentation in collaboration with SEBRAE and the German-Brazilian Chamber of Industry and Commerce in São Paulo, as well as industry and state associations from various Brazilian states. At the preview in February, APEX representatives Márcia Nejaim and Alex Figueiredo positioned Brazil as a dynamic partner for an industrially unsettled Germany. Their impassioned dialogue made one forget the usual PowerPoint presentations from economic development agencies. Alex Figueiredo’s summary:
“Brazil will deliver. We are ready for cooperation, investment and joint innovation. Whether your priorities are decarbonisation, digitalisation or energy efficiency – Brazil is ready.”

Key figures of Brazil as partner country: 2,660 m² of exhibition space across six halls, 140 exhibitors, around 300 companies, 59 start-ups and 10 R&D institutions. Highlights:

• Hall 11 showcases the innovation ecosystem: start-ups, R&D institutions and SENAI – the national training institute of Brazilian industry.
• Hall 12 is the hub for energy, with 30 companies specialising in renewable energy, biofuels and electrification. WEG, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electrical machinery, is there. Mining giant Vale is showcasing new technologies for critical raw materials. And, of course, aviation flagship Embraer and Eve Air Mobility are also presenting solutions for urban air mobility.
• Hall 16 is dedicated to ICT and smart manufacturing – featuring companies such as Stefanini, which has made another quantum leap – particularly in Europe – since its founder’s first visit.
• Hall 17 brings together mechanical engineering and industrial components, complemented by a special programme highlight: a live WorldSkills simulation between Brazilian and German teams.

We should not only talk about geopolitical challenges, but above all about geopolitical opportunities

Brazil thus fits into the spatial layout of Hannover Messe 2026, which has changed significantly. The fair has shifted considerably westwards, and the halls in the eastern part of the site are not in use. This also relegates the Convention Centre – long the hub of conference activity, with the peaceful, agile god of commerce, Hermes, on its roof – to a somewhat peripheral location. The real spotlight is now on the new Centre Stage in the northern Hall 25 – a true global stage at the Hannover Messe, which Michael Rose’s team has organised almost as a revival of CeBIT’s legendary Global Conferences. Chancellor Merz, Rheinmetall CEO Pappberger and German Defence Secretary Boris Pistorius will be appearing there. Against the Germany’s industrial “Zeitenwende” the appearance of Brazilian President Lula could provide an interesting contrast. And it is precisely this breadth that trade fair director Jochen Köckler is banking on with his approach: “We should not only talk about geopolitical challenges, but above all about geopolitical opportunities.”

Partnerships in the private sector with the industry associations are key for us

When the flashbulbs finally start popping and the cameras whirring around Merz and Lula, it will mark the culmination of many years of preparation for the partner country by the trade fair team.
Marco Siebert, architect of the partner country concept at Deutsche Messe AG, described to us in an interview just how much patient sales work must have gone into this beforehand. It is by no means just a matter of the admittedly challenging task of engaging with political decision-makers in the partner country and also in Germany: “Just as important are the partnerships in the private sector with the industry associations of interest to us.” After all, the Hannover Messe is still a trade fair – and takes place the following year as well, after the partner country hype has died down. “ “The partner country’s presence should be sustainable and recurring.”

When the fair gets underway, Marco Siebert feels rewarded for the considerable effort involved in travelling and holding discussions in the run-up: “Then I stand in the aisle and simply observe: how people do business, how they sit together. Indians with Brazilians, Americans with Brazilians – politics is left out of it; it’s about people, about industry.”