Gov. Ned Lamont is saying “Guten tag!” this week. He’s in Germany on a trade mission that business leaders believe could lead to new business – and new jobs.

Germany is Connecticut’s biggest global trading partner, buying $2.1 billion in exports last year, according to the Connecticut Department of Community and Economic Development.

Much of that is in the state’s massive defense industry.

“Germany, like Connecticut, has a major aerospace industry,” Lamont said on Friday. “And we do a lot together right now.”

At Sikorsky in Stratford, thousands of workers are building the massive CH-53K “King Stallion” chopper. The company hopes to sell to them to Germany.

Pratt and Whitney sells the European nation airplane parts. And in Wilton, semi-conductor manufacturer ASML sources many of its materials from Germany.

“The visit to Germany is a real opportunity to not only continue to increase the amount of business going to Germany from our companies here in Connecticut, but also see if any of those German companies are interested in expanding to Connecticut,” said Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.

According to Lamont’s office, the trade delegation is holding meetings in Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin with executives of companies that either have existing operations in Connecticut or that are seeking to expand their operations to North America. In addition to Gov. Lamont, the delegation includes Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe, Connecticut Innovations CEO Matt McCooe and AdvanceCT CEO John Bourdeaux.

“Germany is an important partner and home to many of our largest companies, so this trip is a great opportunity to strengthen those relationships and explore new trade and investment opportunities for our state,” O’Keefe said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely together to extend our trading partnership and find new ways to collaborate going forward.”

Connecticut is already home to more than 100 German companies – including pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim in Ridgefield, welding company Trumpf in Farmington and Roto Frank in Chester, a major window and door manufacturer. DiPentima said that Lamont’s trip could mean new, high-paying jobs.

“In the manufacturing sector, you're talking about highly engineered jobs,” he said. “So a lot of advanced technologies, folks who are working with automation.”

In the bioscience arena, German expansion could mean research and development jobs for scientists and lab technicians.

Instead of targeting major Fortune 500 companies, DiPentima said Connecticut is more likely to attract more small and mid-sized start-ups. He said the state is attractive to German companies because of its highly-skilled engineering workforce and STEM education pipeline, but it’s more expensive than southern states. Connecticut also has a lack of housing, especially in Fairfield Co.

This isn’t Lamont’s first international trade mission. In 2022, he led a trip to israel , where he met with 20 financial tech, biotech, defense and AgTech companies.