Thursday, 11 November 2021, Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany: Premier Dr. Reiner Haseloff welcomed Nipponese Ambassador Yanagi Hidenao in the framework of his inaugural visit to Saxony-Anhalt.
The visit took place in an anniversary year: 2021 marks the 160th anniversary of German-Japanese relations.
The Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Japan, which was concluded in 2019, provided an opportunity to exchange views on strengthening economic cooperation in Saxony-Anhalt. Exports from Saxony-Anhalt to Japan amounted to 113 million euros in 2020, despite the pandemic-related slump, and goods worth 51.4 million euros were imported from Japan. There are currently five companies in Saxony-Anhalt with majority Japanese participation.
There is a lively exchange in the field of science. Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, the Harz and Magdeburg-Stendal Universities of Applied Sciences and Burg Giebichenstein University of Art maintain university partnerships with a total of 18 Japanese institutions.
There is also cooperation in the school sector: since 2008, the city of Inuyama has been sending the best pupils of the essay competition held in Inuyama on an annual trip to Halle. There is also a school exchange through the town twinning of the city of Zeitz with the Japanese city of Tosu.
Various institutions also maintain contacts in the arts. For example, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation cooperates with the Kuwasawa Design School in Tokyo in the Bauhaus Open Stage Studios programme. Every year, students from Saxony-Anhalt and Japan carry out joint projects in which the educational and artistic-experimental perspective of the historical Bauhaus stage is re-examined.
Ambassador Yanagi was likewise received by the Speaker of the State Diet, Dr. Gunnar Schellenberger and members of the German business community.
For further information :
Government of Saxony-Anhalt: https://europa.sachsen-anhalt.de/internationales/aktuelles-international/antrittsbesuch-des-botschafters-von-japan-in-der-staatskanzlei/
Embassy of Japan in Germany: https://www.de.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_de/uberuns_termine.html#210824LaschetAttachments area
