German-Icelandic relations are excellent and wide-ranging, encompassing politics, business, culture and sport. The two countries’ political relations are based on shared values and agreement on numerous current international issues. Iceland sees Germany as one of its key dialogue partners in Europe.

These close ties were underscored in 2019 by Federal President Steinmeier’s state visit, as well as a visit by Chancellor Merkel. Federal Chancellor Scholz attended the Council of Europe Summit in Reykjavík in May 2023. The most recent visits to Berlin were by then Icelandic Foreign Minister Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir in August 2022, Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdóttir in January 2023 and Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson in June 2023.

Germany and Iceland also have close economic relations. In 2023, Germany imported goods worth 813 million euro from Iceland and exported goods worth 769 million euro in the opposite direction. This makes Iceland Germany’s 75th largest import market and 82nd largest export market. Germany, meanwhile, is Iceland’s third most important supplier of goods and its sixth largest buyer. Iceland primarily imports machinery, fuel, lubricants, vehicles and chemical products, and exports fish and fish products, as well as aluminium. Tourism also plays an important role with most guests coming from the United States, Britain and Germany.

In the cultural sphere, the two countries enjoy a very lively and wide-ranging exchange in the fields of language and literature, the visual and performing arts, music, research and academia. One example are the annual German Film Days in Reykjavik.

The Goethe-Institut promotes the German language in Iceland as well as German-Icelandic cultural exchange. Since the closure of the Goethe-Institut in Reykjavík in 1998, Iceland has been served by the Goethe-Institut in Copenhagen. Other institutions involved in cultural exchange include the University of Iceland’s German Studies Department and the Icelandic Association of German Teachers (German is an optional subject at secondary schools). Iceland co‑funded the establishment of a lectorship in Icelandic at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in March 2002.