I am delighted to have taken up my assignment in June 2014 as Germany’s new ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Over the past years, much has been done to strengthen our relationship.

Given the turbulence in large parts of North Africa and the Middle East, even more dialogue and even closer cooperation between our governments is needed.

We are well aware that Saudi Arabia is and remains an indispensable player when it comes to dealing with these challenges.

At the global level, too, we are faced with multiple crises.

As members of the G20, we continue to work together to address issues of energy, sustainable development and security.

In terms of trade and investment, the German-Saudi relationship has seen very positive trends over the past years, with total trade now surpassing 11 billion euros in 2013.

An increasing number of German companies are now investing in the Saudi market. And we can also see a growing interest of Saudi companies to explore opportunities in Germany.

Renewable energy is one area which both of our countries have identified as key and which offers enormous potential for cooperation.

The last years have also seen wonderful examples of German-Saudi cultural cooperation, including the Saudi cultural week this September in Berlin, a trend which will be continued with Germany’s role as guest of honor at the Janadriyah Festival 2015 in Riyadh.

Across all issue areas, a big part of our job is simply to bring Saudis and Germans together — to work on concrete projects and to get to know one another better.

We are proud that we have been able to increase significantly the number of visas issued over the past years, giving many more Saudis an opportunity to visit Germany and get to know our country.

This supplement is a symbol of the excellent state of our relationship and, at the same time, a source of information for all those who want to know more about Germany and want to contribute to strengthen our bilateral ties.

On our side, the embassy, our consulate-general in Jeddah and I myself are committed to doing just that.

Please allow me on the occasion of our national day which celebrates German reunification and coincides this year with the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, to give my best wishes to my fellow German citizens and to thank our Saudi friends for their signs of friendship.

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Boris Ruge

Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany