Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev at the award of the Ewald von Kleist Award – Picture by Office of the Prime Minister of North Macedonia.
Saturday, 16 February 2019, Munich, Free State of Bavaria: Hellenic Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprasand his North Macedonian counterpart Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, were bestowed the Ewald von Kleist Award at the 55th Munich Security Conference.
Both heads of government were honoured for their successful diplomatic efforts ending an impasse in the long-standing name dispute between their two countries. The two politicians emphasised in their speeches that it was important to overcome stereotypes and move towards each other: “Both Alexis and I are aware that we have placed our political careers at risk by concluding the Prespa Agreement,” said Zoran Zaev at the ceremony held in the Munich Residence, a former royal palace for the Bavarian monarchs.
Greece and North Macedonia have signed an agreement last year to settle the ongoing name altercation, which had been troubling their countries’ relations for over a quarter of a century.
According to the agreement, the former Yugoslav republic is called is henceforth officially called North Macedonia. Following the agreement, Greece declared its support for North Macedonia’s accession to NATO and the EU, which the Hellenic Republic had been blocking for years.
About the Award The Munich Security Conference has awarded the Ewald von Kleist Award since 2009. It honours outstanding personalities who have made a special contribution to peace and conflict resolution. The award highlights the political life and work of Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin (1922-2013), who founded the Munich Security Conference in 1963 under the name “International Defense Customer Meeting”. Kleist moderated the conference until 1998.
Premier Daniel Günther and Ambassador Lynette Wood Picture by Schleswig-Holsteinische Staatskanzlei.
Tuesday, 19 February 2019, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany: Premier of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther, received for a courtesy call, the Commonwealth of Australia’s Ambassador to Germany, Lynette Wood at the State Chancery, seat of the regional government.
The conversation focused on finding concrete measures for Australia and Schleswig-Holstein to expand their cooperation in the field of research and natural sciences, particularly in the field of renewable energies.
Ambassador Wood is accredited to Germany since 28 September 2016. Premier Günther is the incumbent rotating President of the German Bundesrat (Assembly of the federal states), and in such function deputises for the country’s federal president, should he be abroad.
Ambassador of Montenegro to France, Dragica Ponorac and Honorary Consul Bertrand Thibert – Consulat honoraire du Monténégro à Lyon.
Tuesday, 12 February 2019, Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, French Republic: At Lyon’s City Hall Red Salon, Montenegrin State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Zoran Janković, flanked by the head of mission of Montenegro to France, HE Ambassador Dragica Ponorac hosted a reception to mark the opening of the Balkan country’s honorary consulate in Lyon.
The exequatur approving the appointment as honorary consul was handed over to Bertrand Thibert (39 years old) who shall cover the entire region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from Lyon.
The Republic of Montenegro is the smallest country in the Balkans with an area of 13,800 square km and a population of merely 630,000. It regained its independence in 2006 after having losing its sovereignty in the aftermath of the Great War.
The evening enjoyed a royal flavour owing to the participation of HRH Prince Nikola II of Montenegro, the head of the country’s erstwhile royal house as well as his heir, HRH Prince Boris, Grand Duke of Grahavo and Zeta, who is professionally based in Lyon.
Honorary Consul Bertrand Thibert, Prince Boris and Prince Nikola II of Montenegro – Image by Consulat honoraire du Monténégro à Lyon.
Lyon’s corps consulaire has a representation of more than seventy countries covering the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and sometimes regions as far as Bourgogne and further beyond.
Year 2019 marks the joint 200th anniversary of the births of the late British monarch, Victoria, and her husband the Prince Consort Albert (né Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saarfeld, later “and Gotha”). The today Upper Franconian (Bavarian) city of Coburg shall organise various events throughout the year to highlight the double birthdays, and HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has accepted to become patron to the celebrations.
Several exhibitions, lectures and installations have been arranged as well as concerts. For instance, the musical “Albert und Victoria” produced by the Coburg Regional Theatre will be on show in August and September. A highlight will be the concert by Coburg Philharmonic Orchestra in London in collaboration with the Royal Choral Society that is to be patronised with the attendance of HRH The Duke of Kent, the Prince Edward of the United Kingdom, Personal Aide-de-Champ and first cousin of HM Queen Elizabeth II. One ought to recollect as well that Queen Victoria was known as Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent before her succession to the throne.
Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Second Mayor of Coburg, Dr. Birgit Weber and Coburg Marketing Director Michael Selzer – Picture by Coburg.
Queen Victoria a scion of the House of Hannover (Guelph dynasty) was born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace, whereas her husband Prince Albert was born in the then Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saarfeld on 26 August 1819.
The Hague, 17 February 2019. The Deputy Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Mr. Yvan Gil is on a European tour that will take him to several European countries. He made a stop-over in The Hague.
Deputy Minister, Mr. Yvan Gil, paid a courtesy visit on OPCW Director General, Mr.Fernando Arias and met with his Dutch homologue at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Marcel deVink.
Scores of Ambassadors, diplomats, International Judges, members of the None-Alignment Movement (NAM+China) all representing countries and institutions friendly to Venezuela, attended a reception hosted H.E. Ms. Haifa Aissami Maddah of Venezuela in honor of the visiting Minister Gil.
A poise and convincing Minister Yvan Gil, delivered a puissant speech explaining the current situation of his country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The speech was not just powerful but very enlighting as well.
One now has a balanced view of developments in the Republic of Venezuela, a sovereign state bend on defending the right to self-determination. Here are some excerpts of Mr Yvan Gil’s speech:Venezuela has the world’s first oil reserve, the world’s fourth gold reserve, as well as other large reserves of gas, iron, diamonds, water.
Venezuela is a victim of a blockade and financial expropriation that makes free trade impossible, particularly the purchase of food and medicine. Under this pretext, ´they´wanted to promote a scenario that reflects the need for humanitarian aid for Venezuela, but an humanitarian aid not accompanied by the International Red Cross, but by foreign military forces.
We insist that our country does not live in
a humanitarian crisis, our country suffers an economic crisis due to the
financial embargo and the economic blockade. Within this blockade: Euroclear
has retained 1,400 million euros belonging to Venezuela, the Bank of England
has confiscated 1,200 million dollars in gold and the United States
expropriated more than 30,000 million dollars, property of the Venezuelan
State. The Latin American Geopolitical Strategic Center (CELAG) calculates a
loss of 350, 000 million dollars in the last 5 years, product of this financial
blockade.
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, has repeatedly called the Venezuelan
opposition deeply connected with the Department of State of the United States
of America, to dialogue, as the only way to preserve internal peace.
Please find a link to the full speech by Deputy
Minister Mr Yvan Gil in Spanish.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo H.E. Mr Lirim Greiçevci and Mrs Lindita Greiçevci celebrating their first National Day as the new Kosovo´s ambassador to the Netherlands.
By Roy Lie Atjam.
It is for this reason that the Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo H.E. Mr Lirim Greiçevci and Mrs Lindita Greiçevci host a reception in The Hague on the bright afternoon of 19 February 2019.
Among those who came to felicitate Ambassador Lirim Greiçevci were
representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Municipality of the
City of The Hague, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, the Kosovo diaspora and
friends.
In his welcome remarks, H.E. Mr Lirim Greiçevci expressed his gratitude towards all who attended his early afternoon reception. An eloquent Ambassador Greiçevci stated “We are always happy to see so many friends from across the world.
Mr. Tom Vandecasteele, Mrs Lindita Greiçevci, H.E. Ms. Adia Sakiqi, Ambassador of Albania and Ambassador Greiçevci.
Greiçevci continued; 11 years ago, on 17February 2008, our democratically elected leaders, declared Kosovo a sovereign state.
Independence
was never some fancy label for us. Independence was and is the only way to
protect our hard won freedom.
And freedom
came at a great cost, after decades of oppression, a terrible war, ten thousand
lives lost, close to a million refugees deported from their homes, hundred of
thousands of homes destroyed and close to two thousand persons still missing
today.
In many ways, we still feel the
legacy of the past.
We take huge pride in the fact that our independence bears the stamp of the UN special envoy and Nobel Peace prize winner, former Finnish president Marti Ahtisaari, whose comprehensive plan for Kosovo’s status contains some of the most generous provisions for minority rights anywhere in Europe, and which we have since embraced and incorporated fully into our Constitution and our laws.
In 2005, President Ahtisaari was
tasked by the UN Security Council to recommend a solution for Kosovo’s status
which had remained undefined since 1999 when NATO had intervened to save
Kosovo. After two years of difficult negotiations, our leaders accepted his
plan, Serbia rejected it.
President Ahtisaari took his plan along with his recommendation that Kosovo became an independent state, to the United Nations. His plan was never tabled at the Security Council as Russia as a permanent member threatened to veto it.
Mr Shawn Patrick Crowley, U.S. Minister Counsellor and the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia, H.E. Mr. Abdulaziz Abohaimed.
Our leaders were left but with one
choice: to declare independence in
Parliament. We are extremely grateful that the declaration of independence has
been recognized to date by the majority of world nations. We thank each and
every country who recognized but we always encourage others to do so.
Today I am proud to say that Kosovo
is a multiethnic democracy where all its communities are represented at all
levels of government playing a full part in Kosovo’s institutions and society.
Our strategic goal is to join the EU and NATO.
Of course, none of this would have
possible without the crucial role played by the international community. As
Kosovo, we put all of our trust in the international community from the very
beginning and they in turn believed in us and our future. I believe it is safe
to say that Kosovo is the world’s most successful project in state building in
recent history.
Since 2011, under the EU auspices, we have engaged in a Dialogue with Serbia to normalize relations. Despite the absence of mutual recognition or any expression of regret about the past by Serbia, we have made considerable progress in our relations.
H.E. Sheikh Mohammed Belal, Ambassador of Bangladesh, H.E. Agustin Vazquez Gomez, Ambassador of El Salvador and Ms. Kathryne Bomberger, Director General of the International Commission on Missing Persons.
The breakthrough by Greece and North
Macedonia, our next door neighbour, in their relations, has sent positive vibes
in our region and will give a boost to a future agreement between Kosovo and
Serbia. And we look forward to another NATO member in our neighbourhood soon.
In the near future, we expect to
embark on a final phase of negotiations to fully normalize relations so that
both countries can progress towards the EU. It is something we owe to future
generations. We have to leave the past behind and look to a brighter future in
our relations. The EU will be key to our success.
Of course, among our key supporters
in our journey has been the Netherlands. The Dutch government and the Dutch
people have been with us every step of the way to help us in our transition to
freedom, democracy, rule of law, market economy.
The Netherlands was among the first
to countries to recognize Kosovo. This year we will be marking the 10th
anniversary of our diplomatic relations.
Kosovo may be relatively small in size and population but it is a powerhouse of talent in music, culture, sports. We’re proud of our world popstars: Rita Ora, Dua Lipa, Era Istrefi. By the way, Dua Lipa won two Grammy awards less than two weeks ago.
Era Istrefi sang at the opening of
the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia. And if some of you don’t know who they are,
and I suspect many of you do not, how shall I put diplomatically, and if you
are not of the right age group, just ask you children. They will tell you all
about them.
Our national pride in sports, judoka Majlinda Kelmendi, won a gold medal in the Olympic games in Rio where Kosovo participated for the first time.
It is also safe to say that we furnish several European national football teams with top footballers: Xhaka, Shaqiri, Behrami, Zeneli, to name just a few, are household names in Europe.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo H.E. Mr Lirim Greiçevci and the Ambassador of Canada, Sabine Nölke.
Our filmmakers made into the finals in the Oscars in 2016 and won a BAFTA award in 2017 with short films.
So, we look forward to a future with
optimism and confidence and we count on your friendship and support as ever.
And thank you again to all of you for joining us today and may we all raise our glasses to Kosovo, the friendship between Kosovo and the Netherlands and to the wellbeing of Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Màxima.
On the picture Mr Brian Hook, U.S. Special Representative for Iran. Photography the the State Department.
By Guido Lanfranchi.
Talking to the press in the wake of the “Ministerial to Promote Peace
and Security in the Middle East”, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Mr.
Brian Hook, welcomed the presence of around seventy countries and the progress
achieved through the discussions.
On February 13th and 14th, the
United States and Poland jointly hosted the “Ministerial to Promote Peace and
Security in the Middle East.” The Ministerial, which was held in Warsaw,
Poland, was attended by delegations from around 70 countries, and focused on a
wide range of issues related to peace and security in the Middle East. While
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had labelled the Ministerial as a
“U.S. anti-Iran show”, the U.S. and Poland repeatedly stressed that the
conference would focus on broader regional dynamics.
In the wake of the Ministerial, Mr. Brian Hook, the
U.S. Special Representative for Iran, exposed the views of the U.S.
administration on the conference and its results. Mr. Hook expressed his
gratefulness to Poland for hosting the meeting, and thanked the almost seventy
countries that attended it for their participation and contribution. He praised
the Ministerial’s “very ambitious agenda”, which included a number of different
themes such as regional crises, missile development and proliferation, cyber
attacks, terrorism and illicit finance, underscoring the great importance that
the U.S. administration attaches to these issues.
While many countries from all over the world attended the conference, a number of key states involved in the complex dynamics of the Middle East, such as Russia, Iran and Turkey, did not attend the meeting. Questioned about the lack of attendance from Turkish representatives, Mr. Hook clarified that Turkey had been invited, but decided to decline. Any request for clarification, therefore, should be referred to the Turkish side – he noted, while at the same time stressing that the two parties maintain close contacts on the developments in the Middle East.
As for Iran, another key Middle Eastern country which did not attend the meeting, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif delivered his rebuttal to the Ministerial a few days later. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he accused the United States of interfering in the Middle East, defining the U.S. as “the single biggest source of destabilization in our neighbourhood”.
Special Representative Hook also clarified the state
of the U.S.-Europe relationship with respect to Iran. Differences between the
two allies’ positions remain, as exemplified by the U.S. negative reaction to
the newly established INSTEX, a mechanism set up by the EU to keep up its
exchanges with Iran in spite of U.S. sanctions. The U.S. State Department has
repeatedly defined the EU position on this issue as regrettable, but at the
same time Mr. Hook expressed confidence that no major businesses seem to be
willing to run the risk of engaging with such entity thus antagonizing the U.S.
Moreover, Special Representative Hook clarified that
the U.S. and the EU share very similar assessments concerning the threats posed
by Iran more at large. In this regard, he praised the actions undertaken by several
European countries against Iranian diplomats and citizens in response to the alleged
Iranian involvement in a series of plots on European soil, and welcomed the
sanctions imposed by the EU for Iran’s non-nuclear related activities.
Finally, Mr. Hook noted with pleasure that “Iran’s
foreign policy has done an excellent job of driving Arab states and Israel much
closer together”, and welcomed the progress made at the Ministerial in this
regard.
As already made clear ahead of the Ministerial, the
U.S. and its allies are intentioned to follow-up on the results of this
conference and the consensus achieved on certain issues. As Mr. Hook reiterated
in the wake of the Ministerial, “we want to, and we will have follow-on
meetings from this”.
Arusha, The Hague, 22 February 2019- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Judge Claudia Hoefer of Germany to the judicial roster of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), effective 21 February 2019.
Judge Hoefer served as a Legal Officer and Senior Legal Officer in the Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for more than 16 years. During her time at the ICTY, Judge Hoefer also served as Focal Point for Women, where she worked inter alia on promoting greater awareness of gender issues and a gender-sensitive working environment. Judge Hoefer is currently serving as Senior Civil Servant in the Ministry of Finance of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. Previously, Judge Hoefer worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany.
Judge Hoefer was appointed following the resignation of Judge Christoph Flügge of Germany on 7 January 2019, and will serve the remainder of Judge Flügge’s term of office.
In accordance with its Statute, the Mechanism has a roster of 25 independent Judges who serve both branches of the Mechanism. Judge Hoefer’s Biography
On February 23rd, the Russian Federation and its armed forces celebrate the “Defender of the Motherland Day”, honouring all those who suffered and fell to defend their country. On February 21st, the Russian Embassy in The Hague celebrated this anniversary with a reception for the diplomatic community of The Hague.
In February 1918, more than one hundred years ago, during the Russian Civil War, the Red Guard troops faced and defeated the troops of the Kaiser of Germany. This event, which set the stage for the creation of the Red Army, is recalled nowadays to celebrate the yearly “Defender of the Motherland Day”, a Russian national holiday dedicated to all the members of the armed forces who suffered in order to defend their country.
The Embassy of Russia in the Netherlands decided to
celebrate this anniversary together with the diplomatic community of The Hague.
The Russian Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Alexander Shulgin, and the Embassy’s Defence
Attaché, Colonel Mikhail Klimuk, invited a number of guests including
Ambassadors and diplomats accredited in The Hague, welcoming them at the
entrance of the Embassy’s reception room.
After hearing the Russian and the Dutch national
anthems, the guests had the possibility to listen to the speech of H.E. Mr.
Shulgin. In his speech, the Ambassador paid tribute to all the men and women
who served in the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and who paid with
their health or lives for the security and the freedom of the country.
Recalling the origin of the anniversary, Ambassador Shulgin praised the
contribution of the Russian armed forces over the course of history, from their
achievements in defeating Nazism during World War II, to their numerous
peacekeeping and rescue mission operations over the last decades.
Coming to these days, “the armed forces are greatly contributing to the security of the country” by defending its interests both at home and abroad – the Ambassador said. He also noted that the armed forces are undertaking serious efforts to improve their organization and efficiency, constantly modernizing themselves in order to be able to serve the country appropriately in the present and in the future.
After the Ambassador’s speech, the guests enjoyed the
drinks and the large buffet full of typical Russian food, kindly provided by
the Embassy. While leaving the reception, the guests stopped by to thank
Ambassador Shulgin and Colonel Klimuk for their great hospitality.
Phan Thị Kim Phúc and The Duke of Kent. Photography by Oliver Killig
Monday, 11 February 2019, Dresden, Free State of Saxony: Phan Thị Kim Phúc better known globally as the “Napalm girl” received the Dresden Peace Prize from the hands of His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, The Prince Edward of the United Kingdom of Great Britan and Northern Ireland.
US Photojournalist James Nachtwey, likely the most recognisable war photographer of our time, paid tribute to prizewinner Kim Phúc with an impressive encomium. He himself is a Dresden Prize laureate from 2012. Nick Ut’s photograph of the “Napalm Girl” in 1972 was indeed motivated him to become a photographer, because it showed him that photographs can make huge differences.
Nachtwey highlighted Kim Phúc contributions to the comprehension of peace rather well during his speech: ´If her life had become a living symbol of war, she made the decision to transform it into a living symbol of peace. She chose to let go of hatred – to understand that even though there can never be justice, she would find forgiveness in her heart and redeem tragedy with love.´
HRH The Duke of Kent was awarded the Dresden Prize in 2015 for his “contribution to British-German reconciliation”. This time around, he presented the award sculpture to Kim Phúc. In his allocution, he mentioned: Today, we are reminded of shocking image of war, the photograph of Phan Thị Kim Phúc. Her pain, her courage, forgiveness and compassion are a living symbol for us all.
James Nachtwey, Phan Thị Kim Phúc and The Duke of Kent. Photography by Oliver Killig.
The Dresden Peace Prize has been awarded annually since 2010 in the Semperoper. When the idea to initiate an international peace prize with the name ´Dresden-Preis´ (Dresden Peace Prize) was conceived, it was clear what it should represent: i) to learn from the city’s fate, ii) to intervene before everything is held for disposal, as it was done in the art city Dresden
Since 2010, the Dresden Peace Prize has been awarded annually in the Semperoper. Previous laureates are Nobel Peace Prize laureateMichail Gorbachev, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, war photographer James Nachtwey, former Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov, former child soldier and present-time peace activist and musician Emmanuel Jal, HRH The Duke of Kent, as well as the forefather of all whistle-blowers Daniel Ellsberg, Domenico Lucano and Dr. Tommie Smith.
