Time flies when you are busy! I can hardly believe that already a year has passed since my arrival in Jeddah, the Pearl of the Red Sea. The German Consulate General has had the pleasure to receive and accompany numerous delegations, political, economic, cultural and scientific.

Naturally, the culminating event was the visit of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel with her top level political and economic delegation to Jeddah at the end of April, soon followed by the German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

However, from the participation in the Top CEO Conference in King Abdullah Economic City to joint training in underwater marine archeology, virtually every field of cooperation has been touched by this steady stream of visitors and flourished in its wake.

This exchange is a two-way-street, with well over 18,000 visa for Saudi citizens handed out just by our mission in Jeddah, with a multiple of this number processed by the Embassy in Riyadh. Tourism, pleasure, and medical treatments rank high on the list of visitors‘ motives in Germany.

I am proud that Jeddah, the gateway to the holy sites of Islam, has safely welcomed well over ten thousand pilgrims from Germany during Haj. A strong flow of travelers in both directions is also business motivated, with hundreds of German companies actively contributing to the realization of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 by their expat and local employees.

German engineers built the Hejaz Railway well over a hundred years ago, and German engineers are working today for the completion of the Haramain High Speed Rail Project. New large-scale initiatives in Makkah, the New Taif, or the Red Sea Tourism Project encounter a profound interest.

I am looking forward to the coming year that should see further concrete advancements in western Saudi Arabia such as a local office for the bilateral chamber, a cultural institute and even a new school.

Let’s work on our future together!

Holger Ziegeler

Consul General of Germany