Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure for me to welcome you again: Your Excellencies and the Hamburg Consul Generals and Honorary Consuls of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as two members of the Hamburg Parliament.
I am very delighted to host this lunch today, or as we call it here in Hamburg this Senatsfrühstück, which was already planned for last year. As this is the occasion for a fruitful exchange, I wont give a long speech now, but restrict myself to a few words.
Latin America, the Caribbean and Hamburg are very closely connected and look back to a long-lasting friendship. When Hamburgs salesmen sailed to your continent in former centuries they were driven by the idea of trading with partners at eye level, so a profound relationship was established.
This exchange is still vital nowadays, as we are closely linked by our ports. The ships that travel between Hamburg and Latin America and the Caribbean make this connection visible for Hamburgs citizens whenever they take a walk along the river Elbe. And I became even more aware of it when I visited South America in April. Beside the port and trade let me just mention the developing scientific cooperation, the aviation industry and the media all of which our strong ties are connected with, which you will surely see during todays program.
Hamburg is happy to have a scientific focus on Latin American Studies with the German Institute of Global and Area Studies, the GIGA, and the University of Hamburg. We are proud that the EU-LAC Foundation has chosen Hamburg as its hometown. And I am convinced that the support of its work is in our common interest.
Right at the moment we are wondering how our cooperation can be fostered in the future: together with the EU-LAC Foundation and the Consul Generals and Honorary Consuls we are planning to establish Latin-American Days in autumn 2014 to introduce your countries to Hamburgs people and companies. I am very grateful that the EU-LAC Foundation has taken the lead to coordinate this project. We might address the embassies and cultural attachés in the next weeks, so I hope very much for your support as representatives in Berlin as well.
You see, we have plenty of common interest to talk about! So I am sure, that we will all have some interesting and inspiring conversations.
Thank you for being here. I wish you a pleasant stay in Hamburg and now foremost bon appétit!
Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.