2008 Rediscovery Tour
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Ambassador Cain, Minister of taxation Kristian Jenesn and manager of Herning MesseCenter Georg Sørensen
16 May 2008, Holstebro – Herning – 60 km (1535)
Day 22 began with a beautiful sunrise over the
Fjord, and a great Danish breakfast fixed by
Bente Rainer and shared by my ODC military
escort. I was delighted to be joined for
breakfast and the morning’s ride by Chief of
the Army General Poul Kiærskou. General
Kiærskou and I, and our staffs, have worked
closely over the past three years to ensure close
coordination and cooperation between the US Army
and the Danish Army, particularly on the
battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. The General
has just returned from Afghanistan and gives a
very enthusiastic report on the spirit of the
Danish soldiers. We also spoke of our shared
enthusiasm for the deployment of new French
forces in the country, and the important signals
of renewed international engagement coming from
that valuable ally.
Our first ride of the morning was a short one to
the beautiful and giant new showroom of Actona
Furniture; a dealer/manufacturer featuring
Scandinavian furniture. Their enormous showroom
on three floors showcases the finest in modern
Scandinavian furniture design. I was pleased to
learn that they have a showroom at the
International Home Furnishings Market in my
hometown of High Point, North Carolina, and that
the market for Scandinavian design in the US has
been growing.
Growing up in the “Furniture Capital of
America”, I have visited many furniture
showrooms over the years and this is undoubtedly
one of the most beautiful and well designed I
have ever seen.
The highlight of my morning visit to Actona was
that I was joined there by Minister of Defense
Søren Gade. Minister Gade, a good friend, was
unable to ride with me today, but wanted to pay
his respects as I rode through his hometown.
(Plus, he said he had heard many stories about
the “Men In Tights” and wanted to see for
himself!) We had a great visit, and reminisced
about the success of the recent Nato summit in
Bucharest, and the well-timed and very positive
visit of our Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to
Denmark. We were also able to update each other
on the progress of Denmark’s deliberations
concerning the next generation of fighter
aircraft; a competition in which we have two very
qualified American competitors in the Lockheed
Martin Joint Strike Fighter, and the Boeing
F-18.
We left Minister Gade and jumped on the bikes for
the 7 km ride to the Holsterbro Town Hall. At the
Town Hall I was met not only by Mayor Arne
Lægård, but also by Minister of Taxation
Kristian Jensen. Kristian is a good friend who
cleared his schedule to join me on today’s ride
from Holsterbro to his hometown of Herning. The
Mayor escorted us into the beautiful chambers of
the Kommune council and made a very nice
presentation, then escorted us through the
Town’s stone-lined Walking Street (one of the
prettiest in Denmark) to the other side of town
where we made the short trek to the Nupark
Innovation Center. Manager Peter Kjeldberg
showed us around this very impressive facility
which is in essence an “incubator” designed
to nurture young companies in a synergistic
atmosphere. The facility already hosts 70
different companies, all of whom pay a market
rent, and is adding capacity to continue to
accommodate these companies as they grow. (Unlike
other incubators I have visited in the US where
they nurture the companies and then send them off
on their own, this facility hopes to keep the
companies on campus as they grow.) When Peter
sent an e-mail out asking if any of the 70
companies had connections with America, 23 said
yes. I was able to meet with two of these
companies; a development firm and a trade show
operator who, coincidentally, was working on a
big show that is scheduled in the near future in
Charlotte, North Carolina, where I was born.
Leaving Nupark, we were joined by a half dozen
riders from the “Færch Plast” Riding Club,
who escorted us the 4 km to the giant
manufacturing facility of Færch. Færch is
Europe’s largest manufacturer of plastic food
containers, producing over 1.6 billion units per
year. They refer to their headquarters as the
‘White House” because it is an all-white
edifice reminisicent of the Home of our
Presidents at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (they even
had a large photo of the ‘Real White House”
waiting for me when I got inside.) They are
really market-leaders in the area of innovative
packaging, and are now focused on making
packaging that is as cheap as possible while
still being at a top quality level, through
through research into even more precise machines
and new and innovative materials.The company has
made only modest inroads into the US, in part
because of import regulations and taxes, and in
part because Americans have historically been
much less receptive to prepared foods, and more
committed to tin cans. I think their future is
bright in America though, and perhaps with the
weak dollar, now is a good time for them to enter
the American market with an acquisition.
After taking lots of photos in front of the
“White House”, and being treated to a very
nice meal, we got back on our bikes and started
out on the 45 km trek to Herning. Unfortunately,
at this point we were running an hour behind
schedule, so we had about 70 minutes to make the
45 km distance. It was too bad, because we passed
some beautiful scenery along the back roads of
western Jutland. General Kiærskou set a great
pace during the first 15 km before he had to
leave us, and we were going so fast that a couple
of times we lost our “chase cars” who
couldn’t make it down some of the narrow
backroads . I think we made a few wrong turns
because what was supposed to be 45 km turned out
to be about 60 km, and we arrived at the Herning
Messecenter in full sweat, about 30 minutes
behind schedule.
At the MesseCenter Minister Jensen and I were met
by our good friend Georg Sørensen, the Director.
Georg Sørensen is one of my many friends in
Herning, which is the home to some of Denmark’s
finest leaders including Minister of Defense
Søren Gade, Minister of Taxation Kristian
Jensen, Minister of Science and Technology Helge
Sander, and Mayor Lars Karup. I call Georg
Sørenesn the “PT Barnum of Denmark”. He is
a great showman. I have been to Herning and the
MesseCenter several times for shows and events
and continue to be impressed with the quality of
events, and caliber of “show” that Georg puts
on here. It is a real compliment to him and his
staff how successful they are here in this part
of Jutland, far away from the population center
of Copenhagen. (I promised Georg I would let
Bruce Springsteen know what a great market
Herning is, and what great nightspots Herning
has, like my favorite “Murphy’s”). Georg
and his staff and about two dozen friends
celebrated the Minister’s and my arrival with
champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries. I
really enjoyed visiting with the very
enthusiastic, and very attractive, group, and
promised to come back when I have more time on
June 1 when the ReDiscovery Tour picks back up in
Herning. (Murphy’s Be Warned, we are coming back
in June!!)