speeches

German-American Friendship Day

October 6, 2006

U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt

Sehr geehrte Herr Stadtrat Becker, sehr geehrte Herr Buhrmann,
Bürger Frankfurts, Amerikaner und Deutsche,
sehr verehrte Gäste,

vielen Dank, daß sie zu dieser Veranstaltung gekommen sind, die eine Frankfurter Tradition geworden ist. Gemeinsam feiern wir zum vierten Mal den "Tag der deutsch-amerikanischen Freundschaft".

Stadtrat Becker, Herr Buhrmann,
Citizens of Frankfurt, American and German,
Distinguished guests,

Welcome to the American Consulate General in Frankfurt and welcome to this year's celebration of the German-American friendship. I am delighted to be here in Frankfurt and I look forward to working together with all of you over the next three years. I look forward to building upon the relationships established by my predecessors and by my colleagues here so that together we can continue to strengthen the German-American partnership. What a thrill it is for me, my husband, and our son to be in this great city. Thank you for the warm welcome we have received.

Like my predecessor Peter Bodde, I am a second generation diplomat and have spent most of my life traveling around the world, serving my country, adapting to new challenges, and making friends that have endured across the continents and through the years. Now I have the wonderful opportunity to be in Frankfurt for a few years; and I have come at an ideal time.

Just over a year ago the Consulate moved to this fantastic facility. I want to thank Lord Mayor Roth and the city of Frankfurt for their welcome assistance in that massive undertaking. Now the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt is the largest American consulate in the world. And we are proud of that. We are proud because it says a lot about how much America values Germany and especially Frankfurt.

This is a location from which we not only launch our public outreach and engagement with Frankfurt and southwest Germany, but also our support to approximately 120 diplomatic posts throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. We call it a "regional diplomatic platform," and our proud motto is "serving America worldwide."

Frankfurt is the ideal place for this regional platform. People from all over the world converge here to start new lives, conduct business, begin their travels through Germany, or perhaps just transit one of the world's great airports on the way to other exciting destinations.

Frankfurt is a truly international city, but it has also been called a very "Americanized" city -- reflecting the decades of friendship and cooperation between Frankfurt and America. I think it also reflects the strong personal relations between the people of Frankfurt and the diplomats, businessmen, military personnel, and family members from America who have made Frankfurt their home over the years.

Many of you here tonight have played a part in building and nurturing this special German-American relationship. I am very excited at the prospect of continuing the good work that you have begun. Today, for example, I had the opportunity to attend the “Hello World” Youth Exchange Fair in Frankfurt. What a wonderful event that was! Today more than ever, reaching out to a younger generation of Germans and Americans is essential. The Youth Exchange Fair, which offers young people opportunities for first hand experiences in the U.S., is a wonderful part of that outreach.

Exchanges like these demonstrate the strength of our friendship. Tonight we celebrate the things we are doing together to promote and further strengthen the German-American partnership, for truly our two great countries need one another to confront the challenges of the twenty-first century. Let us continue to do our part to ensure this partnership stays strong.

I would also like to thank our sponsors for helping us to celebrate tonight’s event in such a grand fashion. Thanks to our friends from Check Six for their great music, and to the city of Frankfurt for helping us to put on this event and for hosting the last three German-American Friendship Day Receptions. Now we have this beautiful consulate and it is our turn to host you. We are so pleased you could be here with us.

Finally, I would like to thank each of you, our guests tonight, for your individual contributions to German-American Friendship. Thank you all.