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Out of many, one – Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock travels to the United States
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock meets her US-American counterpart Antony Blinken, © Thomas Koehler/AA/photothek.de
Whether town twinning, school exchanges, business cooperation or joint training for fighter pilots, there is no country with which we Europeans have closer relations than with the United States.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is travelling to Texas and Washington, DC from 12 to 15 September. Thereafter, she will attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The German-US bond spanning the Atlantic brings together millions. I want to make this network, which takes in the whole spectrum of US society, even tighter.
- Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock
The relationship between our two countries goes so much further than the government telephone lines between Berlin and Washington. Particularly the Lone Star State Texas is a bellwether for the America of the future. As the second most populous state in the United States, Texas is a real economic powerhouse, which still has one foot in the fossil fuel economy of the past with its intensive use of oil and gas, yet at the same time is striding forth into the era of renewable energies. The State’s social diversity also reflects tomorrow’s America. The Latinx community now represents more than 40 percent of the Texan population and since last year has been the State’s largest population group. In Austin and Houston, Annalena Baerbock will have talks both with political actors – including Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas – and with representatives from the Latinx community. This community has come together in various organisations to help shape daily and political life: from support for low-income families with job training, access to citizenship and mobilising election turnout to preparing the next generation of Latinx for leading roles in the private and public sector.
During her visit to the Advario and Mobileye companies, Annalena Baerbock will find out more about regulating critical technologies and using green energies. Advario builds global supply chains for green ammonia, a climate-friendly hydrogen-based energy source. The German car manufacturer Volkswagen recently launched the first all-electric autonomous driving project in the United States in partnership with the technology company Mobileye. At the US Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, Annalena Baerbock will gain an insight into joint training for American and German fighter pilots and talk to the soldiers.
Strong civil rights for strong democracies
On her trip to Texas, Annalena Baerbock is accompanied by the Mayor and four citizens of the city of Leipzig. This year, Leipzig and Houston celebrate the 30th anniversary of their town twinning. Particularly at times in which our democracies are being challenged, we need not just resilient institutions but also the engagement of each and every one of us. That is why a transatlantic citizens’ dialogue will focus on strengthening civil rights and democratic structures.
Pulling in the same direction when it matters: shared values as a political bedrock
Foreign Minister Baerbock will travel on from Texas to Washington, DC to talk inter alia with students of Howard University, with Members of Congress and of course with her colleague, Antony Blinken. After all, the more than one and a half years of the Russian war of aggression have made plain to us in Europe just what value is inherent in our transatlantic partnership. The measure of our partnership is how we all pull together when it matters: when we have to stand up for our shared values.
While Europe stared at the abyss that is the Russian war of aggression at the heart of our continent, there was one thing we could always rely on: that the United States and Europe stand shoulder to shoulder with the people in Ukraine. America stands shoulder to shoulder with its Allies.
- Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock