Tuesday, 23 April 2019, Erfurt, Free State of Thuringia: Belgium’s Ambassador to Germany, Baron Willem van de Voorde, paid a courtesy call on Thuringia’s Premier Bodo Ramelow, the only head of government within the German federation hailing from the Die Linke [The Left] political party.
Primarily the encounter served to become acquainted to each other yet also to discuss a possibly visit by Belgian officials to Thuringia, which is the cradle of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty, that reigns over Belgium. Other topics included economic relations, the restructuring of contemporary Thuringia as well as Henry van de Velde and the Bauhaus year.
Ambassador van de Voorde also took the time in Erfurt to pay a visit to the Belgian company X-Fab. This technology company, based in Erfurt, produces components for the semiconductor industry and MEMS in the automotive, medical and telecommunications sectors. It is the largest foundry group of analogue and mixed signals in the world.
Baron Willem Van de Voorde was accredited to the German Federal Republic on 20 September 2018. Ambassador van de Voorde is a career diplomat previously having served in Vienna as head of mission with accreditations to Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Likewise he served in the cabinet of Vice-Premier and Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders.
For further information:
https://www.staatskanzlei-thueringen.de/medienservice/veranstaltungsberichte/detailseite/antrittsbesuch-des-belgischen-botschafters-willem-van-de-voorde/
https://diplomatmagazine.eu/2019/04/24/bauhaus-museum-weimar-opens/
