Marián Jakubócy & Dr. Florian Herrmann – Picture by bayern.de, bayerische Staatskanzlei.
Monday, 28 September 2020, Munich, Free State of Bavaria, Germany: Slovak top envoy to Germany, Ambassador Marián Jakubócy was received for a maiden call in the Bavarian state by the State Minister Dr. Florian Herrmann, Head of the State Chancellery and Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs and Media at the State Chancellery for their first bilateral conversation.
Focus of the tête-à-tête was the strong presence of Bavarian enterprises throughout Slovakia, however there are still domains in scientific research and innovation that remain unexplored.
For Ambassador Jakubócy, Bavaria is particularly special as he read courses at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies located in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the same federal state.
Ambassador Jakubócy is fluent in the German, English, Russian as well as Bulgarian languages, and was previously the Director General of the Political Section at the Slovak Foreign Ministry (2017-2019).
Between 2013 and 2017 he was Slovakia’s Ambassador to Bulgaria. The career diplomat joined the Slovak Foreign Service in 1995.
Following his arrest by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office on 25 September 2020, Hysni Gucati was transferred to the Detention Facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. An arrest warrant was issued for the suspect for offences against the administration of justice, namely intimidation of witnesses, retaliation and violation of secrecy of proceedings, according to the Kosovo Criminal Code, by virtue of Article 15(2) of the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, Law No. 05/L 053.
Information about the date and time of the first appearance of Hysni Gucati before the Pre-Trial Judge will be announced in due course. The first appearance will be a public hearing and can be followed by video streaming via https://www.scp-ks.org/en with a short delay.
Nasim Haradinaj was arrested yesterday in Kosovo by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, pursuant to an arrest warrant and transfer order issued by a judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers.
Under the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, police within the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office shall have the authority and responsibility to exercise powers given to Kosovo police under Kosovo law. The Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office also provides that persons against whom an arrest warrant of the Specialist Chambers has been issued shall be taken into custody.
The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) provided operational and logistic support to the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) in line with its mandate and in accordance with the Kosovo legislation. The Kosovo Police (KP) also provided operational support to the SPO.
Picture: Detention Facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
21-22 September 2020, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalen (NRW), Germany: Premier of NRW, Armin Laschet, inaugurated the thirteenth Arab-German Health Forum organised by the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ghorfa) which dealt with ways to develop the Arab-German partnership in the field of medical care and accessibility to German technology and know-how in developing the health sector in the Arab countries, which is witnessing important transformations, especially in light of the Covid-19 crisis.
Premier Laschet likewise stressed the importance of North Rhine-Westphalia, being the largest economy amongst the states of Germany, as well as the importance of strengthening relations with the countries of the Arab world not only in the field of health, but in various economic fields.
Within the framework of the first session of the forum, which dealt with the topic “How the Covid-19 epidemic will change the health care system: the effects of learning on the health care system,” the Minister of Economy, Innovation, Digitisation and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, Professor Andreas Pinkwart, stressed that the state of North Rhine is one of the places Attractive for medical tourism for Arab citizens, praising in this context the holding of a health forum in the state capital, which will contribute to deepening and strengthening the partnership in the medical care sector between the countries of the Arab world and Germany in general and the North Rhine state in particular.
On the image, first row from l.t.r.: Ghorfa Secretary General, Abdulaziz Al Mikhlafi; Khalfan Al Matrooshi, Head of Economic Department at the UAE Embassy to Germany and Croatia; Premier of NRW, Armin Laschet; Ghorfa President, Dr. Peter Ramsauer; Ambassador of Yemen, Dr. Yahia Mohammed Al Shaibi; Ambassador of Kuwait, Najeeb Al Bader; Ambassador of Morocco, Zohour Al Alaoui. Second row from l.t.r.: Ambassador of Bahrain, Abdulla Abdullatif Abdulla; Ambassador of Palestina, Dr. Khouloud Daibes; Ambassador of Jordan, Basheer Zoubi; Secretary at the Embassy of Qatar, Shafi Al Hajri.
The Hon Titilupe Fanetupouvava’u Tu’ivakano and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg – Picture by Cour grand-ducale, Sophie Margue.
Friday, 25 September 2020, Luxembourg City, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: His Royal Highness The Grand Duke of Luxembourg accepted the letters of credence of the Kingdom of Tonga’s very first ambassador -non resident- to the Grand Duchy, HE The Hon. Titilupe Fanetupouvava’u Tu’ivakanō (b. 1978).
Since 2018 The Hon Fanetupouvava’u Tuita Kaho represents the Friendly Islands in the United Kingdom after having served in her homeland from 2012 to 2018 as Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Kingdom of Tonga.
The Hon. Titilupe Fanetupouvava’u’s father, Chief and IX Lord Tuita of ʻUtungake, The Honourable Siosa’ia Ma’ulupekotofa Tuita himself once served as High Commissioner of Tonga to the United Kingdom between 1989 and 1992.
The Ambassador holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology alongside a postgraduate Certificate in Diplomatic Studies. During the meeting with Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, she expressed her utmost desire to be able to work firmly on deepening the ties between Luxembourg and Tonga in spite of the long distance between the two royalties.
One much important success during the tenure of The Hon. Titilupe Fanetupouvava’u is the fact that the UK is reopening a high commission in Nuku’alofa this year after having closed down in 2006 owing to budget constrictions.
The Mechanism Registrar meets with the President of the East African Court of Justice and the Arusha Regional Commissioner
Arusha, 24 September 2020 – In the spirit of promoting greater collaboration and partnerships between the Arusha Branch of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (“Mechanism”) and other judicial institutions hosted in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, as well as the local authorities in Arusha, the Registrar of the Mechanism, Mr. Abubacarr Tambadou this week paid courtesy visits on the President of the East African Court of Justice (“EACJ”), Dr. Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, and the Regional Commissioner of Arusha, Honourable Iddi Hassan Kimanta on 22 and 24 September 2020 respectively.
In welcoming Registrar Tambadou back to Arusha, Honourable Kimanta congratulated him on his recent appointment by the UN Secretary General as Registrar of the Mechnism and re-assured him of the continued support to and collaboration of the Arusha local authorities with the Mechanism.
Registrar Tambadou reiterated his gratitude for the excellent support and cooperation that the Mechanism and its staff continue to receive from the Arusha local authorities particularly on law enforcement. In this regard, Registrar Tambadou informed the Regional Commissioner that the Mechanism will, in the coming weeks, be handing over a newly constructed Police Post for the Arumeru District to be located in the Kisongo area in order to facilitate the Police support to the Mechanism and the area at large.
IRMCT Registrar, Mr. Abubacarr Tambadou and the Regional Commissioner of Arusha, Honourable Iddi Hassan Kimanta
The Regional Police Commander for Arusha, Mr. Salum Hamduni, and the Regional Administrative Secretary, Mr. Richard Kwitega both graced the meeting.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, 22 September 2020, Registrar Tambadou paid a courtesy visit on the President of the East African Court of Justice (“EACJ”), Dr. Emmanuel Ugirashebuja. President Ugirashebuja congratulated Registrar Tambadou for his recent appointment as Registrar of the Mechanism and reiterated the good cooperation between the EACJ and the Mechanism. The EACJ President expressed his gratitude to the Mechanism for the leadership role it has played in fostering partnerships between the international and regional judicial institutions in Arusha.
On his part, Registrar Tambadou thanked Dr. Ugirashebuja for the warm welcome accorded him and reiterated his commitment to strengthen the strong bonds of partnership that already exists between the two institutions. The visit was concluded with a tour of the EACJ premises.
Canada Contributes CAD 2,500,000 to Future OPCW Centre for Chemistry and Technology
In the picture, the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, François-Philippe Champagne and the Director-General of the OPCW, H.E. Mr. Fernando Arias.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands–24 September 2020–The Government of Canada announced today a contribution of a further CAD 2,500,000 (€1,600,000) to a special Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Trust Fund to support the project to upgrade the current OPCW Laboratory and Equipment Store. This project will result in the construction of a new facility, the OPCW Centre for Chemistry and Technology (“ChemTech Centre”).
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, communicated the contribution to the OPCW’s Director-General, H.E. Mr Fernando Arias, during a conversation today.
Minister Champagne remarked: “Canada is pleased to provide additional funding to the OPCW’s new Centre for Chemistry and Technology, which reflects our longstanding commitment to mitigating global chemical weapons threats. Our CAD 10 million total commitment makes Canada the top national donor to the Centre, and will help strengthen the OPCW’s capacity to address new and evolving threats.”
The Director-General expressed his gratitude to the Government of Canada for this second generous contribution. He highlighted: “The new OPCW Centre for Chemistry and Technology will strengthen the capabilities of our Member States to achieve a world free of chemical weapons. It will also increase international cooperation toward safer and peaceful uses of chemicals for the benefit of people and the environment. We appreciate the continued commitment of OPCW Member States to this important project during these unprecedented times.”
H.E. Ms Lisa Helfand, Ambassador of Canada to The Netherlands.
Director-General Arias appealed to all OPCW Member States in a position to make voluntary contributions to do so. He further emphasised the important role the new ChemTech Centre will play in strengthening the OPCW’s ability to address chemical weapon threats and enhance capacity building activities. He highlighted that “all contributions, regardless of size, are greatly appreciated”.
So far, 43 Member States, Israel – a signatory state – and the European Union have contributed or pledged to contribute financially to the ChemTech Centre project, and a considerable amount has been raised to date.
Salih Mustafa was arrested today in Kosovo by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, pursuant to an arrest warrant, transfer order and confirmed indictment issued by a pre-trial judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers.
Mr. Mustafa is being transferred to the Detention Facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague and will appear before the pre-trial judge without undue delay.
The Pre-Trial Judge confirmed the indictment against Salih Mustafa on 12 June 2020. Pursuant to Rule 88(2) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence Before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers the indictment, was not made public at that time.
The indictment, states that crimes of arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, and torture were committed between approximately 1 April 1999 and 19 April 1999 at a detention compound located in Zllash/Zlaš, Kosovo, against at least six persons. Moreover, it is stated that one detainee was murdered at that location on a date between on or about 19 April 1999 and around the end of April 1999.
The indictment, charges Salih Mustafa, under various forms of criminal responsibility, with: arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder as war crimes committed in the context of and associated with a non-international armed conflict in Kosovo.
Under the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, police within the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office shall have the authority and responsibility to exercise powers given to Kosovo police under Kosovo law. The Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office also provides that a person against whom an indictment has been confirmed shall, pursuant to an order or an arrest warrant of the Specialist Chambers, be taken into custody.
Friday, 18 September 2020, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany: Premier of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer welcomed the participants in the new series of events entitled “Ambassadors in Dialogue” organised by the German Asia-Pacific Business Association’s (Ostasistische Verein – OAV) branch located in Mainz under the chairmanship of Singapore’s Ambassador to Germany, Laurence Bay.
The Hamburg-based association selected Rhineland-Palatinate as the first federal state for its new event format. A total of twelve ambassadors hailing from Brunei (Ambassador Pengiran Hajah Krtini Pengiran Haji Tahir),Indonesia (Ambassador Dr Arif Havas Oegroseno) , Cambodia (Ambassador Phen Savny), Laos (Ambassador Phomma Boutthavong), Malaysia (Ambassador Datin Sarah Nava Rani Al Bakri Devadason), Mongolia(Ambassador Ganbat Damba), Myanmar (Ambassador Yin Yin Myint), New Zealand (Ambassador Rupert Holborow), Philippines (Ambassador Maria Theresa Dizon-de Vega), Singapore (Ambassador Laurence Bay), Sri Lanka(Ambassador Manori Premila Unabuwe) and Viêtnam (Ambassador Dr. Nguyễn Minh Vũ) partook in the event, which was organised in cooperation with the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Economy.
In order to become acquainted to the state and especially its economy better, the ambassadors spent two days in Rhineland-Palatinate visiting various companies.
The evening event provided an opportunity for numerous company representatives of both large and many medium-sized companies from Rhineland-Palatinate with strong economic ties to the Asian region to establish direct contacts with the ambassadors of individual countries.
Premier Dreyer pointed out the differentiated economic structure in Rhineland-Palatinate. Rhineland-Palatinate was a state with global players such as Schott, Boehringer and BASF, all of whom were represented at the event.
“We also have very strong medium-sized companies which form the backbone of our economy. These are often second or third generation family businesses with 10, 50 or 100 employees”, said Premier Malu Dreyer as per statement linked below in its original German language version.
Among them are “hidden champions” who have established themselves as leaders on the world market.
H.E. Mr. Mario Oyarzábal, Ambassador of Argentina and the President of the Senate, Dr. Jan Anthonie Bruijn.
By Roy Lie Atjam.
H.E. Mr. Mario Oyarzábal, Ambassador of Argentina.
The Hague, 17 September 2020, Leonardo Royal Hotel.- In keeping with the advice of the Dutch Government, Diplomat Magazine in collaboration with Leonardo Royal Hotel hosted an end of the summer small-scale reception to welcome back the diplomatic community to town.
In addition to welcoming back the diplomatic community, the reception also welcomed new Ambassadors from South Africa, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Mexico and other countries.
Ms Angela Neuhaus and H.E. Mr. Mattew Neuhaus, Ambassador of Australia found their flag with Chef Marta Orban, from Sweet & Spicy who made a memorable cake with the flags of the words and flowers.
Notably, the event was attended by the President of the Netherlands Senate Dr. Jan Antoine Bruijn, who briefly addressed the Diplomatic community on a personal note.
In the picture the President of the Senate, Dr. Jan Anthonie Bruijn, addressing the guests during our VII Diplomats Welcome After Summer.
The joyous event also had the honor to entertain the business community, politicians, academics as well as members of different international organizations.
Mrs. Sizar Akoum, Judge Walid Akoum and Judge Janet Nosworthy – Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Entertainment for the evening included a marvellous jazz band led by Daniel Nicolas that animated the evening. The guests also enjoyed a Tango dance performance by the couple Ezequiel and Gerardina.
As in previous years, the Embassy of Argentina served the best Argentinean wines and the Ambassador H.E. Mr. Mario Oyarzábal was able to give much information about the different varieties of wines from his country.
H.E. Mr. Vusi Madonsela, Ambassador of South Africa.
Here is an excerpt of what he said //
While the Argentine embassy has regularly participated in this annual event, where the diplomatic community of The Hague meets again at the end of the summer, for me, this is the first time, as I arrived in the Netherlands in March this year and fully assumed the functions as Head of Mission at the Embassy in July, after presenting my credentials to King William Alexander.
As many of you know, the historical links between Argentina and the Netherlands are very deep-seated and diverse. It is an honor, as the Argentine Ambassador, to contribute to the strengthening of the ties of friendship between both countries as well as to deepen the bilateral relations.
At present, the relationship between Argentina and the Netherlands is marked by the closeness between the respective governments and societies and by the economic and scientific-technological complementation, as well as the cooperation in the international field.
H.E. William Roelants de Stapper, Ambassador of Belgium to the Multilateral Organizations, H.E. Mr. Philippe Couvreur, H.E. Agustin Vazquez Gomez, Ambassador of El Salvador, and H.E. José Antonio Zabalgoitia, Ambassador of Mexico.
Once again, I would like to thank the Diplomat Magazine and Ms. De Lara for the invitation. Unfortunately, this year’s circumstances due to the covid-19 pandemic make the celebration slightly different. However, I did not want to miss out on being part of and sharing this pleasant evening with colleagues from the different embassies.
As in previous editions, we will enjoy two Argentine wine varieties: Malbec and Torrontes.
Argentina ranks as the 5th wine producer and 9th exporter in the World. Almost 900 wineries make this possible. The Dutch market is the 6th destination of our wine export in the world.
The boom in Argentina’s wine exports owes a lot to Malbec. Over the course of time, and after much effort, Malbec came to be Argentina’s flagship variety.
But not all is Malbec or red wine. Torrontés has the potential of being Argentina’s white wine icon. It is produced only in Argentina, across all the winemaking regions, and has an incomparable flavor//
Ezequiel & Geraldina.
Further on the program was a luxury cars exhibition of the world’s newest Lexus edition for the attendees to enjoy.
All in all, the evening has been a successful one with all the attendees respecting and observing all the coronavirus protocols and restrictions.
