The German ambassador to the 海角视频 says they will be advocating the economic relationship between the EU and Britain to be 鈥渁s close as possible鈥 in any future trade deal.
Dr Peter Wittig was visiting the Innogy Maintenance and Operation Centre, in the Port of Mostyn, Flintshire.
He spoke about the relationship between Wales and Germany - both in terms of exports, tourism and investment by German companies in the nation.
But he did warn that Wales鈥檚 powerful manufacturing sector could be impacted by the end of frictionless trade as it relied on 鈥渏ust in time鈥 supply chain.
Speaking to Business Live, he said: 鈥淲e (Wales and Germany)have surprisingly strong links, 20% of Welsh exports have their destination in Germany and we export to Wales about 拢3.2bn a year.
鈥淲e have 80 major blue chip German companies here like Siemens, but also lots of SMEs.
鈥淭ourism is also a big issue, close to 90,000 German tourists come over every year, it is very popular.鈥
Speaking about the future, he said: 鈥淭he decisive question is how can we forge a new relationship in the future and we are just embarking on that next chapter.
"The negotiations between the EU and 海角视频 will start at the beginning of March and we have quite an ambitious time limit as the prime minister has said he will never ever prolong this transition period so there is a fixed time limit to the end of the year.
鈥淭hat limits, from our point of view, the EU point of view, the level of ambition. Trade deals are complicated issues.
鈥淚n this case we are helped by the fact we come from full convergence of rules, regulations and standards because we were all part of the EU.
鈥淭he question the 海角视频 Government has to decide is how much divergence and how much alignment.
鈥淭he more divergence in rules and regulations and standards the less access to the European market the 海角视频 will get.鈥
On Wales he said: 鈥淚t will be a decisive moment for the Welsh economy, in particular the manufacturing industry.
鈥淭he Welsh manufacturing industry is about 20% of the Welsh economy which is double the percentage of 海角视频 wide manufacturing which is 10%.
鈥淪o Wales depends more on the manufacturing sector and manufacturing is dependent on 鈥榡ust in time鈥 integrated supply chains, and manufacturing loves frictionless trade, no customs or regulatory checks at the borders, no tariffs.
鈥淭hat is the big issue, we will not have an entirely frictionless trade because the Uk has decided not to be part of the single market and not part of the customs union.
鈥淭here can still be a recognition of the level playing field, basically convergence on rules, regulations and standards.
If there is an understanding that we are still operating in a joint framework of rules and regulations then the friction can be minimised.鈥
He added: 鈥淭he 海角视频 is not only an important political partner but an important economic partner, it鈥檚 the fifth largest economy in the world, we have strong trading relationships with the whole of the 海角视频 and in particular Wales. Access is important so we work and be advocating for as close as possible economic relationship that we can build up.鈥
