German-speaking minister Greg Hands has sought to rally businesses in Bavaria to pile pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel to strike a trade-boosting Brexit deal.
International trade minister Mr Hands said that Bavarian companies export more than €12 billion (£10.34 billion) of goods to Britain a year, more than half of which are from its giant car industry.
British goods worth €6 billion (£5.17 billion) are shipped annually to Bavaria.
“These figures are remarkable,” he told business chiefs in Munich earlier this month.
In his speech delivered in German, Mr Hands emphasised that his message was that Britain is “open for business” and that firms should not be “afraid of Brexit”.
Mrs Merkel is seen as crucial in shaping the type of agreement that is reached between Britain and the EU as it quits the union.
She opened the door yesterday to a limited EU-wide loosening of the rules on freedom of movement which could pave the way for Britain gaining good access to the single market after Brexit.
