BUS34BusinessGerman's Lower Saxony state to open Mumbai officeMumbai, Oct 3 IANS The German state of Lower Saxony will shortly open an office in Mumbai to facilitate trade and business relations with Maharashtra, it was announced here Friday.Minister-President Chief Minister of Lower Saxony Christian Wulff, who is visiting Mumbai and called on Maharashtra Governor S.C. Jamir Friday afternoon, made the announcement here. He was accompanied by a business delegation.Wulff also expressed his country's keen desire to help develop an international exhibition centre in Mumbai to host trade fairs on the lines of Frankfurt and Hanover. He also announced that Volkswagen would set up its big car-manufacturing factory in Pune.Volkswagen is striving to become the leading car manufacturer in the world over the next 10 years, overtaking Toyota, and Wulff said that India could play a major role in helping it achieve the goal.In addition, a German university would open its offices in Pune, the academic capital of Maharashtra, which is also famous as the state's information technology IT and automobile hub. Germany wants to attract more Indian students to its universities and the branch office would help in that process.During their discussions, Wulff, who is leading a 100-member business delegation, said that Lower Saxony was constructing one of the biggest ports in Germany and wants Indian companies to invest there.The governor, welcoming Lower Saxony's decision to open an office in Mumbai, said that Maharashtra is an ideal place for investment with its abundant skilled and highly-skilled pool of human resources. He also lauded Volkswagen's decision to set up its manufacturing facilities in Pune.--Indo-Asian News Serviceqn/vm/vt286 Words03102204