Thursday, November 12, 2009

Germany’s new Ambassador to India, Thomas Matussek, presents his credentials to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil

On Wednesday, 11th November, the new Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to India, Thomas Matussek, presented his credentials to the President of India. Before taking up his new position, Ambassador Matussek had served as the head of Germany’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Earlier, Ambassador Matussek had been the Chief of Cabinet to Germany’s Foreign Ministers Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Dr. Klaus Kinkel, the Director General of the Political Department at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and Germany’s Ambassador to London.

Ambassador Matussek is no newcomer to India. From 1983 – 86, he was the Press Counsellor at the German Embassy in New Delhi. During his tenure at the UN, he also worked closely with his counterparts from India, Brazil and Japan—the so-called ‘Group of Four’—for reform of the UN Security Council and a permanent seat for these four countries at the Council.

On arriving for his second stint in India, the Ambassador said, “I have always felt a great fascination for this country. Also it has always been of great interest to me to see the long and manifold ties between India and Germany. I feel that it is important to build on this long tradition.”

He outlines the work that he cuts out for himself and the Embassy for the times to come. “It will be in our hands to build a strong strategic partnership. Our bilateral trade, science cooperation and cultural dialogue are success stories. But there’s always room for improvement. I would like to enhance our respectful and constructive cooperation in order to find common answers to the big challenges of our times, e.g. climate change, reform of the global financial system and the UN, and combating international terrorism. To sum it up: I look forward to a busy agenda,” Ambassador Matussek concludes.

No comments: