The Grand Hospitaller Joseph Blotz and the Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs Giampaolo Cantini received Gunther Krichbaum, Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office and Member of the Bundestag, on a working visit to the Magistral Palace.
This visit was an opportunity to explain to the representative of the new German Government the Order of Malta’s activities and its international presence on a diplomatic and humanitarian level. Ambassador Giampaolo Cantini particularly stressed the advocacy role on international humanitarian law the Order plays in international forums, from interventions at the United Nations to the side events organized annually at the Munich Security Conference.
Although diplomatic relations between the Sovereign Order of Malta and Germany were established in 2017, the bond of friendship and cooperation dates back to 1859, the year the Order’s German association was created. The German Order of Malta Relief Corps (Malteser Hilfdienst – MHD) is one of the largest humanitarian organizations in Germany. Active since 1953, it now has 60,000 volunteers and collaborates with other Order of Malta humanitarian bodies such as Malteser Deutschland, which manages hospitals and homes for the elderly , and Malteser Werke, which deals with schools and social integration programmes. Also based in Cologne is Malteser International, the Order’s international relief agency providing emergency aid in theatres of war and during natural disasters.
The Grand Hospitaller then expressed the Order of Malta’s gratitude to the German government for the important and constant support for humanitarian activities, including that in third countries; he pointed out the assistance received for distributing food to the population of Gaza City, in collaboration with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, as well as healthcare projects in Lebanon. Minister Krichbaum expressed appreciation for the Order’s work and hoped that relationships and teamwork would be strengthened through new opportunities for cooperation.
Finally, there was a shared concern about the international situation and ongoing conflicts, especially in the Middle East and Ukraine, reaffirming the need and urgency for the respect of international humanitarian law and the cessation of hostilities.
