SIEMENS U.S. TURNOVER TO RISE IN CURRENT YEAR
Siemens AG <SIEG.F> turnover in the
United States will rise to about 2.6 billion dlrs in the
current year to end September from 2.2 billion in 1985/86,
management board chairman Karlheinz Kaske said.
    He told the annual meeting 80 pct of last year's sales came
from products made in the U.S.. He added Siemens was as
interested as U.S. Authorities in reducing the massive trade
deficit and calming down trade relations.
    "But we would show no understanding if this (trade deficit
reduction) was attempted through means incompatible with the
principle of free world trade," Kaske said.
    Siemens has been the subject of pressure by U.S.
Telecommunications authorities to limit its access to the U.S.
Market for digital telephone switching equipment.
    The Federal Communications Commission announced in December
it was starting an enquiry into the blocking of free access to
the telecommunications market by foreign firms, with officers
saying reciprocal access was not available to U.S. Firms
abroad.
    For years Siemens was the only supplier of public switching
stations to the Bundespost, the German federal post office.
Regulatory authorities in 1982 opened Bundespost contracts to
tenders from other domestic and foreign suppliers.
    But foreign authorities have complained that too many
restrictions to overseas suppliers still remain.
    Kaske said neither Siemens nor the Bundespost could be held
responsible for the U.S. Trade deficit and noted the U.S. Was
still achieving substantial surpluses in trade with West
Germany in the electrical and telecommunications sector.
    The Bundespost is far more open to supplies from abroad
than telephone companies in the U.S. Japan or France, he added.
 Reuter
