Friendship contract between Germany and the UK: Travel Without Borders!

Friendship contract between Germany and the UK: Travel Without Borders!

London, Vereinigtes Königreich - The planned signing of a friendship contract between Germany and the United Kingdom will take place on Thursday in London. The main goal of this agreement is to facilitate travels for German teachers and their classes to the United Kingdom, without travel passes or visas being needed. This is particularly important because trips to Great Britain are associated with a lot of bureaucracy after Brexit. The German government emphasizes that the contract should quickly bring positive changes for the citizens of both countries, especially in the area of student exchange.

like WDR , security commitments are also recorded in the friendship contract. Germany and Great Britain promise mutual support in the event of a defense, which is intended to strengthen the foundation of bilateral relationships in addition to making travel.

North Rhine-Westphalia and the United Kingdom

Accompanying this contract, the European Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Dr. Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner, a two-day trip to the United Kingdom. The goal of this trip is to strengthen relationships between North Rhine-Westphalia and Great Britain. Holthoff-Pförtner emphasizes the special connection between the two regions and announced a declaration of intent to deepen the exchange in various areas, including business, school and youth exchange as well as science and research.

An essential element of this declaration of intent is a memorandum of understanding that is intended to reduce bureaucratic hurdles for mutual visits. In particular, the focus will be on student and student exchanges in the coming year, as on the website of Land NRW

collaboration in various areas

Minister of State Greg Hands signed the first joint explanation of the United Kingdom with a German state during this trip. Holthoff-Pförtner and Hands underlined the importance of deepening in areas such as youth, clean growth, cyber security and fighting terrorism.

As part of his visit, Holthoff-Pförtner also met with representatives of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in order to discuss concrete aspects of the declaration of intent. In addition, there was an exchange with members of the cross-faction parliamentarian group "Germany" and discussions with economic and science representatives about the challenges and effects of Brexit.

After his stay in London, the minister traveled to Manchester, where he spoke to Mayor Andy Burnham about the possibilities of cooperation between Greater Manchester and the Ruhr regional association. Both regions agreed to cooperate in areas such as climate change, green infrastructure, digitization and research and emphasized the historical connections as well as the challenges that can only be mastered together.