Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has arrived in New York for a three-day visit, the focus of which will be a speech to the UN General Assembly. He also wants to take part in a food security summit and hold several bilateral talks, including with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
For the 64-year-old SPD politician, according to information from those around him, it is his first visit to the world metropolis. Although he has often been to the USA privately and on business, he has never been to New York, the most populous city in the United States.
In addition to his political commitments, a tourist appointment is exceptionally on the Chancellor’s agenda. The writer Daniel Kehlmann (“Measuring the World”), who lives in Berlin and New York, wants to show him around the city on a walk on Tuesday afternoon.
Speech at 77th UN General Debate
The highlight of the visit, however, will be the speech in the general debate of the United Nations, which Scholz will hold on Tuesday evening (local time). The chancellor wants to offer answers as to what the “turning point” triggered by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine could mean for the United Nations, according to sources close to him. With a view to the General Assembly, Scholz had deliberately telephoned both President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past few days.
The talks with Erdogan are likely to be about the planned NATO accession of Finland and Sweden, which still has to be ratified by Turkey. It could also be about the dispute between Greece and Turkey over territorial claims in the eastern Mediterranean and, last but not least, about the relationship between Turkey and Russia. Erdogan announced on Saturday after attending a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that he wanted to join the group of states. Its largest and most powerful members are China and Russia.
Baerbock is also traveling to New York
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is also expected in New York on Tuesday. While the chancellor is traveling in a government plane, the minister flies line. So far, a joint appointment is planned for the two: a meeting with representatives of Jewish organizations on Wednesday.
Differences between Scholz and Baerbock on the subject of arms deliveries to Ukraine had recently become apparent. The Foreign Minister had called for a quick decision on the delivery of main battle tanks to Ukraine, while Scholz expressed reservations. However, both agree that Germany should not go it alone.
