German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Ottawa this week

Toronto: Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, will visit Ottawa on February 9, 2015.

Chancellor Merkel’s bilateral visit to Canada – her second since taking office – will provide an opportunity to discuss a broad range of international matters, including preparations for the upcoming G-7 Summit being hosted by Germany this year in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria, a number of security issues such as the situation in Ukraine, the Middle East and the ongoing fight against terrorism. The leaders will also discuss the economic potential of the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement.

Quick Facts

• Canada and Germany enjoy close relations, underpinned by active international cooperation, healthy trade and investment relations, and long-standing people-to-people ties.
• With bilateral merchandise trade totalling nearly $19 billion in 2013, Germany was Canada’s ninth-largest merchandise export market, and ranked fourth among Canada’s suppliers of merchandise imports.
• Chancellor Merkel’s first bilateral visit to Canada took place in Ottawa in August 2012. Prior to this, she attended the June 2010 G-8 and G-20 summits in Muskoka and Toronto.
• Prime Minister Harper visited Munich and Berlin, Germany, in March 2014, and Berlin in May 2010. He also participated in the NATO Strasbourg-Kehl Summit which took place in France and Germany in 2009, and a bio-diversity conference in Bonn in 2008.  In June 2007, he attended the Canada-EU Summit in Berlin and the G-8 Summit in Heiligendamm.

Quote

“Germany is a valued friend to Canada and a close ally. I look forward to once again meeting with Chancellor Merkel to discuss the upcoming G-7 Summit, under her presidency, and to share views on other pressing international priorities – most notably the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the role played by the Putin regime, as well as global efforts to fight terror.” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper