On 18^th and 19^th January 2016, an international delegation from WorldSkills Europe visited the Austrian province of Styria. With this visit, Austria’s bid to host the European skills competition “EuroSkills 2020” entered a crucial phase. As well as Graz, Finland’s capital, Helsinki, has also made it to this final stage of the bidding process. “Graz and Styria would be wonderful hosts for a ‘mega-event’ of this kind”, is the firm view of the President of Austria’s Federal Chamber of Commerce, Christoph Leitl, and the President of the Styrian Economic Chamber, Josef Herk.

The Styrian Economic Chamber and Skills Austria accompanied the international WorldSkills Europe delegation during the two-day, tightly packed programme, which included all the potential competition sites, particularly the Graz exhibition centre, and receptions by the Governor of Styria and the Mayor of the City of Graz. The motto of our bid is “We are Skills”. “It’s all about true passion, and this is the message we would like to convey”, said the President of the Styrian Economic Chamber, Josef Herk, who received the delegation with the President of Austria’s Federal Chamber of Commerce, Christoph Leitl, and the Special Representative of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce for EuroSkills and WorldSkills, Renate Römer. The member of the provincial government, Christian Buchmann, and the Mayor of the City of Graz, Siegfried Nagl, also assured the delegation of the strong support of the Province of Styria and the City of Graz. After all, 100,000 visitors are expected to attend this mega-event.