The ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Chile, Dr. Christian Hellbach, gave a talk to professors and students together with Anna Elisabeth Richter, the head of Economic and Scientific Affairs at the German Embassy in Santiago de Chile, in order to promote the mobility and scientific growth between Germany and Chile.

With the objective of strengthening the ties between the European Union and the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), Dr. Christian Hellbach, the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Chile, and Anna Elisabeth Richter, the head of Economic and Scientific Affairs at the German Embassy in Santiago de Chile, met with Dr. Renato Hunter Alarcón, the deputy rector of UFRO, as well as with students and academics of the university.

For Dr. Hunter, the visit of the representatives of the German Embassy in Santiago de Chile is “important progress in terms of collaborations and exchange opportunities for academics and researchers. Through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which offers stays and internships at various German universities, the students and academics can increase their knowledge and subsequently share this new knowledge with our undergraduate and graduate students. There is no doubt that this is a great opportunity for our university community and the scientific development of our region and our country,” Hunter commented.

The ambassador explained at his visit at UFRO: “Temuco is a city I know and the La Araucanía region is very interesting for us. We believe that we should pay much more attention to it, so I came here to talk about the European Union, its values, the challenges we face and the beliefs that connect us with Chile, since we are very close despite the enormous distance between both countries.”

At the same time, the ambassador pointed out: “Chile will be a supplier of green hydrogen and its derivatives in the future, so we will need it to decarbonize our energy matrix. We want to promote the cooperation in the field of renewable energy resource development and use, since the fight against climate change is one of our top priorities. Secondly, Chile has huge potential regarding renewable energies, being one of the most developed countries in this region in terms of political strategies and regulatory frameworks, and the one that has been the closest to developing productive projects, among others in the field of green hydrogen and its derivatives. That is also why we want to consolidate our relationship.”

According to the ambassador, the European Union and Germany are currently working on an updated association agreement with Chile, which includes different aspects, such as political issues, sustainability, human rights and gender issues.

PROTOCOLAR VISIT

The director of the International Affairs Office at UFRO, Dr. Lorena Vieli del Río, and the coordinator of the doctoral program in Social Sciences, Johanna Sagner, led the visit of the German authorities that included an informative talk for students and academics, who were able to discuss and debate about the role of the European Union in the current global scenario. Some of the addressed topics were the economy, international cooperation agreements, the war in Ukraine, the reactions to and effects of the pandemic and the boom in sustainable green hydrogen project proposals.

“This meeting was based on the ambassador’s interest in visiting the university and presenting information about the European Union. Although the students are very interested in issues related to international mobility, there are few opportunities for them to learn at first hand more about the policies of countries or institutions such as the EU, about what their perspectives are on the major international conflicts and how they relate to Chile. Therefore, this kind of knowledge, insight and analysis is very interesting, because it affects us in many ways and we rarely have access to it. There has always been great interest in Germany to create links with Chile in the fields of science and research. We have many agreements with German universities and many of our scholars obtained their doctoral degree in Germany. That is why it is important to promote the international mobility of our students and academics”, said Dr. Vieli.

The visit of the representatives of the German Embassy in our region concluded with a talk about “DAAD scholarships for doctoral programs and research”. The aim of this activity was to promote the mobility between Germany and Chile and was exclusively for students, researchers and teachers of the Universidad de La Frontera.