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German Government to fund professorship in honour of Henry Kissinger

26.05.2013 - Press release

The University of Bonn is to have a new Henry Kissinger Professorship. This is how Defence Minister de Maizière and Foreign Minister Westerwelle have agreed to honour the former US Secretary of State and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger, who celebrates his 90th birthday on 27 May.

Defence Minister de Maizière: “Henry Kissinger is one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century and a brilliant scholar. His 90th birthday is a wonderful opportunity to honour the distinguished services he has rendered in a very special way by establishing a professorship for international relations and international law.

With the new professorship we want to ensure that Henry Kissinger’s extraordinary achievements in the area of diplomacy, strategy and transatlantic international relations will continue to inform security and defence policy debates in years to come.”

Foreign Minister Westerwelle: “Henry Kissinger is a world statesman and a standard bearer for the art of the possible. I offer him heartfelt congratulations on his 90th birthday. Henry Kissinger has rendered outstanding services to the cause of peace and détente as well as global security and disarmament.

To have such a friend is a real boon for Germany. Funding the new professorship in Bonn is our way of saying thank you.”

Bonn University President Prof. Jürgen Fohrmann and Registrar Dr Reinhardt Lutz have welcomed the German Government’s decision. President Fohrmann: “The Henry Kissinger Professorship will stimulate research and teaching in the area of international relations and international law, intensify the dialogue between academics and policy‑makers and bring a new focus to international security policy. The choice of university for the new professorship highlights Henry Kissinger’s links with Bonn.”

The Henry Kissinger Professorship for International Relations and International Law with special reference to security‑policy aspects at the Rheinische Friedrich‑Wilhelms‑Universität Bonn is to be jointly funded by the Federal Defence Ministry and the Federal Foreign Office for a period of five years. The necessary arrangements are to be made in the 2014 federal budget.

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