Tuesday, 23 January 2018, Chancery of the US American Embassy to the French Republic: US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson held a general “Regional Chiefs of Mission” meeting with the thirteen US American ambassadors as well as chargés d’affaires a.i. belonging to Western Europe.
During the rendez-vous, US interests in Western Europe, as well as upcoming ambassadorial appointments, were discussed.
On the photograph from left to right:
Kent D. Logsdon (Chargé d’affaires a.i., Embassy to Federal Republic Germany), Lewis M. Eisenberg (U.S. Ambassador to the Italian Republic and non-resident to the Republic of San Marino), Matthew Lussenhop (Charge d’affaires a.i., Embassy to the Kingdom of Belgium), Reece Smyth (Chargé d’affaires a.i., Embassy to the Republic of Ireland),Thomas Williams (Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Kerri S. Hannan (Charge d’affaires a.i., Embassy to the Grand Duchy Luxembourg), Rex Tillerson (U.S. Secretary of State), Richard Duke Buchan III (Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and non-resident to the Principality of Andorra), Jamie D. McCourt (Ambassador to the French Republic and non-resident to the Principality of Monaco), Peter Hoekstra (Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands), George E. Glass (Ambassador to the Portuguese Republic), Callista Gingrich (Ambassador to the Holy See), Edward McMullen, Jr. (U.S. Ambassador to Swiss Confederation and non resident to the Principality of Liechtenstein), Adam Shub (Chargé d’affaires a.i., Mission to the European Union).
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Picture by US State Department.
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For further information:https://de.usembassy.gov/secretary-tillerson-meets-u-s-ambassadors-charge-daffaires-regional-chiefs-mission-meeting/
H.E. Mr. Rumen Alexandrov, Ambassador of Bulgaria during his speech.
The Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria, together with STOEP – StichtingOost-EuropaProjecten and VNB – Vereniging Nederland-Bulgarije presented the exhibition of the work of twelve Bulgarian artists in Studio Pulchri (The Hague, Netherlands) from January 13, 2018 till February 4.
The exhibition includes works by four artists living and working in the Netherlands and several works of artists living in Bulgaria, providedby the collection “The Queeste” of the Dutch art collector TjapkoJager.
Through the eyes of the Dutch and Bulgarian artists we can see the journey of Bulgaria – through the labyrinths of Europe – as the Bulgarian writer GeorgiGospodinov describes them in his book ‘The Physics of Sorrow’ – the rich labyrinths of Europe, full of stories, colors, joys and sorrows where one can easily get lost, if not for the helpful ‘thread of Ariadne’, leading us with compassion and humanity to the rescuing light ….
The paintings, sculptures, and photos at the exhibition combine the rich experiences from different parts of Europe – the warmth of the South with the reflection and rationality of the North. They also show the European journey of Bulgaria – from a country behind the Iron Curtain (reflected in some of the works from the collection of The Queeste) – on the way back to united Europe – and the last 10 years – as a member of the European Union (in the works of the Bulgarian/Dutch artists living in The Netherlands). Their themes reflect that journey as well – the micro and macro worlds (KantchoKanev), roots (RadaYakova), East-West ( RadinaDankova), the searching spirit (TchavdarIliev). The works from The Queesterun by Tjapko and Marjolijn reflect the journey in a different way – the search for answers in the long and changing history of Bulgaria.
The figurative images of the paintings, the statues and the photo-pictures at this exhibition tempt us to discover the expressive, magical world behind them. Because the artists live and work in different parts of Europe, their works of art unite elements from different cultures, but all of it as part of the European cultural spectrum.
KantchoKanev has been living in The Hague for many years. Member of the Pulchricollective, Kantcho is well known in The Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Singapore, Romania, and Bulgaria. His paintings, ceramics, and drawings are composed of layers of paint that playfully combine surfaces and lines and that directly address the onlooker. The symbols in his work tell stories that carry the spectator into Kantcho’s own world.
TchavdarIliev has also been living andworking in The Netherlands for many years. He settled in 1990 and paved the way for other artists by the high standards of his work. Tchavdar is a respected member of Pulchri, holder of the prestigious Pulchri prize ‘Van Ommeren – De Voogd‘ for 2016. His work has been acquired by many private and public institutions, amongstthem the Municipality of The Hague. His work can be admired in several sizes. The smaller bronzes have a balanced relationship with his monumental statues. He tries to find an equilibrium between lines and volumes that are constructed around one vertical, bearing line. Iliev creates abstractions of these figuratives by using elements like motion, tension, and balance.
The large photo-works whichRadinaDankova makes show views of cities, shops, private and public spaces. These colorful impressions originated during visits to many different countries. The urban, stilled landscapes obtain a symbolic value through single, sparing details. Recurring topics in her work are different cultures and themes like ‘Home’ and search for ‘Identity’. Radina has been living and working in The Netherlands for more than 25 years. Her photos are a kaleidoscope of European identities and a valuable contribution to the discourse on place, and belonging.
The work of the youngest representative RadaYakova, living in The Netherlands for the past 5-6 years is charged with direct emotion and much attention for composition. The central theme is the dialogue between motion, body and paint. She builds her work through layers of fast brush strokes. Her direct, sketchy and intuitive way of working requires no predetermined image.
TjapkoJager, on one of his many travels to Eastern Europe, fell in love with Bulgaria and its art and artists. For him and his wife that was the reason to start Gallery and Sculpture garden “The Queeste”, which is specialized in Bulgarian art. Queeste means search. It represents their search for beauty.Theworks from The Queeste include well-established names in the Bulgarian modern art – SvetlinRussev, NikolajMaistorov, Jordan Katsamunski, Marina Marinova, StanislavPamukchiev, IvailoMirchev, Rumen Skorchev andEmil Popov. They show the richness of Bulgarian tradition and high standards in art. All those who you see exhibited here are ‘a standard‘ themselves. Universal themes as the creation, the quest for identity, the search for truth, love, salvation, light, and darkness – you see them all in their work, comprising the years both before 1989 and after. They show the everlasting journey of Bulgaria and its people -in a quest for light, freedom, love, and understanding.
We hope that all visitors to the exhibitionwill becomea part of Bulgaria’squest on the European journey!
The Department of Aliens Police, Identification and Trafficking in Human Beings (AVIM) of the Rotterdam Police, together with Romanian police colleagues and the Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism – Constanta Territorial Office, arrested nine suspects in the Netherlands and Romania on 30 January on suspicion of human trafficking.The suspects, four men in the Netherlands and four men and a woman in Romania, are aged between 22 and 29. They are also accused of money laundering, extortion and unlawful deprivation of liberty. The suspects are provisionally detained and will be brought before the examining judge on Friday.The victims, all between the ages of 19 and 25, were recruited in Romania by the main suspect to work in prostitution in the Netherlands. In addition to the main suspect and his wife, a number of other suspects were arrested. They served as drivers for the women who worked as prostitutes.To achieve yesterday’s positive result, the Dutch authorities cooperated with the Romanian authorities, Eurojust and Europol within a joint investigation team (JIT) formed in September 2017.
Almost a year, after the EasyJet’s first flight between Amsterdam and Budapest, was waved off by the H.E. Andras Kocsis, Ambassador of Hungary to the Netherlands, last February 2917.
In Budapest, the flight was welcomed by the Chargé d’Affaires of the Netherlands in Hungary.
Hungary major trading partner
Hungary and the Netherlands are major trading partners: the Netherlands is the third largest foreign investor in Hungary. The importance of good and affordable connections between Amsterdam and Budapest is also underlined by the Dutch and Hungarian embassies.
The Ambassador of Hungary in the Netherlands Mr. Kocsis officially opened easyJet’s first flight between Amsterdam and Budapest: “The new route will certainly benefit the strong business relations between Hungary and the Netherlands. In addition, the greater range of flights between the two countries will bring our cultures closer together. People who wish to travel between Hungary and the Netherlands now have a greater choice of flights, in various price ranges. This is great news for passengers traveling for business meetings, city trips, holidays or visiting a festival. “
At Budapest Airport, the first flight was received by the Chargé d’Affaires of the Netherlands in Hungary, Mr. Molenberg:“Trade between the Netherlands and Hungary has broken records over the last year, at the embassy we notice a growing interest among Dutch entrepreneurs for opportunities on the Hungarian market. We, therefore, welcome the new easyJet route between Amsterdam – Budapest as a great and inexpensive option, especially for business and furthering bilateral relations!”
Mr. William Vet, country manager Netherlands, traveled on the first flight to Budapest, “Budapest is a jewel in our network. With a rich cultural history and as a gateway to an important market, more people will reach this city and the country for business and pleasure. With our products, we make flying easy and affordable at Schiphol, already for more than 20 years. This strengthens the position of Schiphol and the Dutch economy.”
From left to right: Paul Pradin (Member), Karel Frielink (Dean), Margaret Hawthorne (Vice-Dean), Jan Van Belleghem (Treasurer) and Ralph Obersi (Secretary).
A new Board of the Consular Corps of Curaçao was appointedat the recent annual general meeting. Mr. Karel Frielink, the Honorary Consul of Germany, was re-elected as Dean. The other board members elected were Ms. Margaret Hawthorne (U.S. Consul General) as Vice-Dean, Mr. Jan Van Belleghem (Honorary Consul of Belgium) as Treasurer, Mr. Ralph Obersi (Honorary Consul of Mexico) as Secretary and Mr. Paul Pradin (Honorary Consul of France) as Member.
The Consular Corps of Curaçao represents 31 countries. Its members serve as consul general, vice-consul, or honorary consul.They assist citizens from the countries they representvisiting or living in Curaçao in some legal and consular matters. They also work to promotegood relations between Curaçao and the country they represent.
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For further information, please contact:
Karel Frielink; phone 7372973; email: kfrielink@bzselaw.com
On the picture German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel in China – Picture by Xinhua.
Friday, 19 January 2018: The 2018 European Union – People’s Republic of China Tourism Year was launched at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. On the occasion, two major events werGerman Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel in China e organised in parallel and back to back with the opening ceremony:
B2B matchmaking meetings on the morning of the 19th of January
The 1st EU-China Tourism Business Summit
In 2016 Chinese arrivals into the EU reached 8.2 million; the market has doubled in size over the previous five years. Visitors to Europe represent about one-quarter of all Chinese long-haul outbound and as demand for Europe grows at a faster rate than outbound Europe’s share of the Chinese market has been rising.
Top level events throughout the EU and the PRC are planned for all of 2018 to encourage tourism between the two political giants.
For further information:
Official site, EU-China Tourism year: https://ecty2018.org
Mission of the PRC to the EU (HE Ambassador Zhang Ming): http://www.chinamission.be/eng/
Embassy of the PRC to The Netherlands (HE Ambassador WU Ken): http://nl.china-embassy.org/eng/dszc/
Embassy of the PRC to Germany (HE Ambassador SHI Mingde): http://www.china-botschaft.de/det/
Chief Executive, Ms. Carrie Lam and WEF Founder and CEO, Prof. Klaus Schwab.
22-27 January 2018, Davos, Swiss Federation: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam, accompanied by Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury James Lau, attended the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (WEF) held at Davos, Switzerland on January 25 and 26, where they had a series of engagements with top officials of various countries and international organisations.
Mrs. Lam took the opportunity to brief audiences about Hong Kong’s advantages for business and encouraged them to make use of them. In her first day at Davos, Chief Executive Lam was hosted by the Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL), founded by the former German member of the European Parliament, Silvana Koch-Mehrin. Mrs. Carrie Lam and Swiss Federal Counsellor Johann Schneider-Ammann (Economic Affairs, Education, and Research).
On her event-packed schedule, Mrs. Lam had exchanges with senior members of international bodies, officials of Switzerland and other places, as well as business leaders from all over the world. She promoted Hong Kong unique benefits for business at several speaking engagements and encouraged audiences to take advantage of them.
Previous to her Davos participation, Mrs. Lam paid a bilateral visit to Switzerland, which took her to Bern, Basel, Lucerne, and Zürich. In Zürich, she visited the Impact Hub, a global community which supports innovative start-ups and the Zurich University of the Arts. During the visit, Mrs. Lam witnessed the signing of three MoUs between Hong Kong and the Helvetian authorities to strengthen collaboration in financial services.
Hong Kong has a representative office located in Berlin, which also oversees Hong Kong’s bilateral ties with Switzerland.
For further information:
Tracey Crouch. Picture by Chris McAndrew ( Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license).
Wednesday, 17 January 2018, London, UK: Her Britannic Majesty’s Government appointed a post as “Minister for Loneliness” at the suggestion of the Rt Hon Prime Minister Theresa May.
The appointed minister is Tracey Crouch, a hitherto a minor government member and Conservative MP. She shall tackle recommendations hailing from the “Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness” to create a government-wide strategy to fight against one of the society’s biggest health concerns.
Tracey Crouch, was till then Undersecretary for Sport and Civil Society in theDepartment for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Britain is dealing with a serious case of loneliness. A study published in 2017 by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness found out that over 9 million people out of Britain’s nearly 66 million inhabitants often or always feel lonely. The report also said that loneliness costs British employers over $3 billion per year.
Further governmental research revealed that about 200,000 elderly people in Britain had not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month.
Doctors say that loneliness can be worse for your health than smoking, and can lead to cardiovascular disease, depression and death. A 2012 study from the peer-reviewed Jama Internal Medicine Journal found that people 45 and older who lived alone were more likely to die than those who shared a home with others.
For further information:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_for_Loneliness
François de Rugy, Speaker of the French National Assembly. Picture by Bruno Perroud.
Monday, 22 January 2018, Bundestag’s Plenary Assembly, Berlin: To mark 55 years since the signing of the Élysée Treaty of friendship and reconciliation between the then West German Republic and the French Republic, the Speaker of the French National Assembly, François Goullet de Rugy, held an allocution before federal German parliamentarians. His German counterpart, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, responded to the courtesy by traveling on the same day in the afternoon to Paris to speak before the French National Assembly, accompanied by an inter-parliamentary delegation of German MPs.
François Goullet de Rugy addressed his audience in impeccable German. He urged his Bundestag colleagues to vote in collaboration with French deputies for a renewed treaty of friendship between Germany and France in the spirit of the Élysée Treaty signed on 22 January 1963 by French President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
Albeit neither President Emmanuel Macron nor Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel were present during the speech, they delivered a mutual video recorded at the Salon Murat located in the Élysée Palace urging the MPs to buttress up enthusiasm for the renewed treaty.
President Macron already flirted with the idea of a renewed treaty back in September 2017 in an effort to further solidify Franco-German ties as a spinal cord for a stark European Union.
For further information:
Full text of Élysée Treaty: http://www.deutschland-frankreich.diplo.de/Elysee-Vertrag-22-Januar-1963,347.html
French National Assembly: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr
In the picture: Sigmar Gabriel, Dr. Mustapha Adib (Lebanon’s Ambassador to Germany), Ambassador Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and FM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar and Sigmar Gabriel, Foreign Minister of Germany, jointly inaugurated last November “Der Diwan – The Arab Culture House” in Berlin.
The event serves as a major milestone for Qatar-German Year of Culture, and will also be a legacy of the year marked with numerous collaborative ventures and cultural exchanges.
Addressing the public at the opening Qatar’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said:”With the opening of the Arab Cultural House in Berlin today, we celebrate the long-standing friendship between Germany and Qatar. The Diwan will be a platform for lively cultural exchanges and development, and a testament of our commitment to building bridges with nations around the world”.
The attendees for the opening included government representatives and professionals from a variety of fields, who had the opportunity to learn about the unique history of the Diwan and its significance in the German-Qatar relationship.
HE Ambassador Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani, Head of Mission of the State of Qatar to Germany added: “The Qatar Germany Year of Culture 2017 has seen many inspiring initiatives to build bridges between our cultures. Today, we celebrate the opening of the Arab Cultural House in Berlin, which offers a distinct space for German and Arabic culture and its relations to be strengthened.”Official Opening of The Diwan.
The new “Der Diwan” is an invaluable contribution to German heritage and the latest addition to Berlin’s diverse and vibrant cultural landscape. The Cultural House carries the significance of being Qatar’s first cultural center outside of Qatar and its opening in marks an exciting new chapter in the Qatari-German cultural relations.
Located in the Zehlendorf district of Berlin, the cultural house, formerly known as Villa Calé, was built between 1904 and 1907 by publisher Franz Calé and is considered to be one of the most beautiful villas in Berlin. The Diwan has a rich and colorful history, having previously been used for private housing, then hosting the Institute of Film and Image in Science and Education, before the State of Qatar purchased the building in 1997.
For further information:http://botschaft-katar.de/en/der-diwan-arab-culture-house-opens-doors-in-berlin/http://botschaft-katar.de/en/in-pictures-opening-of-der-diwan-the-arab-culture-house/
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Pictures by Embassy of the State of Qatar to the Federal Republic of Germany.
