Ambassador of Malta visits Representative Office of Bremen in
Berlin
On 23 June, the Ambassador of
Malta to the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Vanni Xuereb, paid a visit to the
Representative Office of the Free
Hanseatic City of Bremen in Berlin to meet the Representative of the Land of
Bremen at the federal level , Dr Olaf Joachim. The Deputy Head of Mission of
the Maltese Embassy, Mr Mark-Anthony Abela, and the Chief of Protocol of the
Bremen Representation, Mr Veit Swoboda, were also present.
At the outset of the meeting
between the Ambassador and the State Councillor, the numerous similarities
between Malta and Bremen were highlighted. Bremen and Malta share a number of
similarities. For instance, both have a population that is just over half a
million. They both face comparable political and economic challenges, including
competition with larger countries or states on various levels. Furthermore, both
States share common economic interests such as in the fisheries, aviation and maritime
sectors. Climate change and Energy was another topic of discussion with Dr
Joachim referring to the wind energy that is harvested in the Northern regions
of Germany. The Ambassador affirmed that Malta was very interested to know more
about technological advances in the generation of wind energy that would not
have a serious impact on the environment, especially on the visual landscape of
the Maltese islands given their geographical size.
The situation regarding COVID-19
was also discussed. Ambassador Xuereb described the successful implementation
of Malta’s vaccination programme with 80% of the adult population having
received the first dose and 67% of its population being fully vaccinated. It was also noted that Bremen’s vaccination
campaign was doing very well with the vaccination rate having picked up speed
in the last few weeks.
The very special link between
Malta and Bremen was emphasised during the exchange: the “Malta Centre”, a
worldwide and unique centre for the research and promotion of the Maltese
language, is located at the University of Bremen.
In
conclusion, it was that the Embassy and the Representation would continue to
collaborate to foster the already existing relations between Bremen and Malta.