Governing Mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner receives US Ambassador Amy Gutmann at the Red Town Hall.
© dpa
Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) received US Ambassador Amy Gutmann at the Red Town Hall on Monday.
It was the diplomat's inaugural visit to the Berlin head of government, who has been in office for about three months. Gutmann herself has been US ambassador in the German capital since February last year - the first woman ever to do so.
In the one-hour conversation, the Governing Mayor and the US Ambassador agreed that the good relations between the USA and Berlin should be intensified, for example in the exchange programme for students. This was announced by the Senate Chancellery afterwards.
"Berlin can be a beacon of free cities," says the Governing Mayor. Next year Wegner plans to visit Boston with a delegation that will include high-ranking representatives of the health industry. The aim is to expand connections in the health industry. He also plans to travel to New York and Berlin's twin city Los Angeles. US Ambassador Gutmann assured her support. Los Angeles on the US West Coast has been Berlin's twin city since 1967, longer than any other.
The Governing Mayor and the Ambassador already knew each other: at the end of June, they were invited to speak at the civic festival at Schöneberg Town Hall, which was dedicated to German-American friendship. Both gave a speech there and recalled the significance of US President John F. Kennedy's visit 60 years earlier. Gutmann was a professor at Princeton and then president of the University of Pennsylvania for many years until 2022. US President Joe Biden asked her to take on the new task in Berlin. The US magazine "Fortune" has listed her among the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders".