6 May 2022 www.bahrainthismonth.com Germany in Bahrain THE KINGDOM’S REPRESENTATIVE Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Federal Republic of Germany, HE Abdulla Abdullatif Al Shaikh Abdulla, highlights the diplomatic relations between the two countries in this conversation with George Middleton. Your excellency. You’ve had a distinguished career since joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. Can you give us a brief summary about your diplomatic postings and missions so far? In 1981, I was the Director of Finance and Administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A few years later, I went to Glasgow to continue my education and receive my master’s degree. Four years later, I had my first diplomatic post as the Deputy Head of Mission in London – a post which I held for almost five and a half years. I was then appointed as a permanent representative to Geneva dealing with the multilateral issues and, of course, a nonresidential ambassador and permanent representative to Vienna as well. It was then that I’d spent five and a half years in London and almost four years in Geneva. This was followed by appointment as the Under Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from August, 2009 to almost October, 2017. Finally, in February 2018, I went to Berlin as the Kingdom of Bahrain’s ambassador to Germany, where I have been since. How do you find living in Germany and what would be your key observations about it? To be honest, and to keep a long story short, starting with Berlin as a German city; I believe if you do not like Berlin, something is wrong with you, not the city and so you have to adjust yourself. It’s a beautiful city with a very rich heritage. I can say it’s ‘a kitchen of the world’ in the sense that you can find a lot of think tanks. As a diplomat, it’s a very important post with a lot to cover. It’s one of the biggest economies in Europe, and it has a lot of areas where we can have a good cooperation. In terms of diplomatic works, it’s not all concentrated in Berlin, you are dealing with 16 regional states which is very challenging. What do you consider to be your most significant achievement so far in your posting in Germany? Oh, there are plenty of achievements! Of these, the one that I would consider the most important is our success in increasing our trade between Bahrain and Germany. As I’d mentioned, Germany is one of the biggest European economies and so, we found a lot of areas for cooperation and have been very successful since I was there. In fact, despite the pandemic, we’ve always had an increase in our trade and exchange investment between Bahrain and Germany.
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