King and Queen to visit Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland (2)
His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima will be visiting the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland from Wednesday 10 to Friday 12 October 2018 (see Government Information Service press release no. 141). Joining them on this visit will be Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag, who will lead a trade mission. The mission will devote attention to two areas in particular: digitisation (with a focus on cybersecurity and digital industry) and life sciences and health (with a focus on eHealth and care for older people). The theme of the trade mission ties in with the transformation process in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland from traditional industries to a digital economy.
Wednesday 10 October Rhineland-Palatinate
Cooperative principles – Mainz
On the morning of Wednesday 10 October King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will be received at the State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate in Mainz by Malu Dreyer, Minister-President of the federal state, and her husband Klaus Jensen. A short introductory meeting will be followed by a lunch, at which Ms Dreyer and the King will both give a speech. The theme of the lunch will be ‘200 years of Raiffeisen’. F.W. Raiffeisen, born in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1818, was one of the founders of the cooperative movement. He set up a rural credit union, believing that a collective approach was the best way to achieve sustainable improvements in the lives of the rural poor. Ralf Barkey, chairman of the board of the Rhineland-Westphalia Cooperative Association, and Professor Tine de Moor, lecturer in social and economic history at Utrecht University, will speak about cooperative principles in 2018.
Innovations in inland waterways and digitising viniculture – Rhine Gorge and Moselle
After lunch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will travel to Oberwesel for a boat trip on the Rhine, during which they will speak with German and Dutch representatives of ports, industry, inland waterways and government on boosting innovation and sustainability in the inland waterway transport chain. The boat will pass through the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Later in the afternoon the King and Queen will visit Bernkastel-Kues on the Moselle river. Following a visit to a vineyard and a presentation on the digitisation of viniculture, they will meet with Dutch and German vintners and researchers to discuss cooperation, climate change and technological developments in viniculture.
Trade dinner - Trier
In the evening the King and Queen will attend a dinner for the Dutch trade delegation and their German counterparts. Ms Kaag and the Minister of Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture for the State of Rhineland Palatinate, Volker Wissing, will both give a speech.
Thursday 11 October Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland
World Heritage and bicentenary of Karl Marx - Trier
On the morning of 11 October King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will visit the Porta Nigra in Trier. The city gate, which dates from Roman times, is the symbol of Trier. The King and Queen will then visit the Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady. In 2018 Trier is celebrating the bicentenary of Karl Marx, who was born in the city in 1818. The royal couple will bring their visit to Rhineland-Palatinate to a close by visiting an exhibition on the life and work of Marx at the Trier Landesmuseum. Marx developed his ideas in the nineteenth century at the time heavy industry was developing.
Cybersecurity and digital industry – Cooperative principles – Saarbrücken - Saarlouis, Saarland
On Thursday afternoon King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will be received at the State Chancellery of Saarland in Saarbrücken by the Minister-President of the federal state Tobias Hans and his wife Tanja Hans. A lunch will then be held at Saarbrücken Castle, where Mr Hans and the King will both give speeches. In the afternoon the King and Queen will join the cybersecurity and digital industry trade mission at Saarland University’s Saarbrücken campus. Dutch and German participants in the programme will demonstrate digital developments in manufacturing and discuss further cooperation in the areas of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, smart industry and Work 4.0. The King and Queen will then travel to Saarlouis to see the decentralisation of energy production in practice. The Bürger-Energie-Genossenschaft Köllertal eG is an energy cooperative organised by members of the public together with the city. There are currently more than 1,800 similar cooperatives operating in Germany.
Transformation of old-style industry to new industry - Mettlach
In the evening a dinner will be held at Saareck Castle in Mettlach. German philosopher Richard David Precht and Dutch historian Rutger Bregman will present their vision on the future of the relationship between man and machines in the transformation of old-style industry to new industry, and what this means for Europe.
Friday 12 October – Saarland
World Heritage – Transformation of old-style industry to new industry – Völklinger Ironworks
On Friday 12 October the King and Queen will visit the Völklinger Ironworks, a UNESCO Industrial World Heritage Site. 2018 is the European Year of Culture Heritage, with the motto ‘Our heritage: where the past meets the future’. Following a guided tour of the former factory complex, the royal couple will speak with specialists and international students participating in a two-day conference on developments in industrial culture in Europe.
eHealth and care for older people - Homburg
The visit to Saarland will end at Saarland University Medical Centre in Homburg, where the King and Queen will join the life sciences and health trade mission. At this session German-Dutch cooperation in eHealth and care for older people will be demonstrated and discussed.