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Foreign Minister Heiko Maas travels to Ireland and the United Kingdom
On 12 April, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas will be travelling to Ireland and the United Kingdom.
His programme features talks with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, as well as with members of parliament and other partners. The most urgent international issues, including Syria, Russia and Iran, will be on the agenda. In the UK, the Foreign Minister will also open the Königswinter Conference together with his British Counterpart.
Today I will first fly to Dublin. My main objective is to intensify our bilateral relations. We know that Ireland will be particularly affected by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU. I therefore consider it all the more important to communicate to our Irish partners that our first priority is solidarity among the EU27. In the EU, Ireland is a key partner for us. This applies particularly with regard to the reforms in the EU that we want to implement in cooperation with France. To achieve this we need all EU partners on board.
In the UK I will be discussing the most pressing international issues with Boris Johnson. For it goes without saying that even after Brexit we need and want to be able to rely on the United Kingdom being at our side, at the side of the EU, as an international player and part of the Western community of shared values. That is also in the UK’s interests.