Frank-Walter Steinmeier, accompanied by his wife Elke Büdenbender, was received with military honours by the Lieutenant of the Grand Master Fra’ Marco Luzzago at the Magistral Villa in Rome.
During the visit, the first since diplomatic relations were established between the Order and Germany in 2017, the Order of Malta’s Grand Chancellor Albrecht Boeselager and the German President had a conversation on many topical issues, starting with the growing number of refugees and displaced persons and the interconnected phenomenon of human trafficking; the pandemic crisis, threats to peace and stability and persecution of minorities in many areas of the world.