3 October marks the 20th anniversary of German unification.

This Friday (1 October) Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will welcome former Federal President Walter Scheel to the Federal Foreign Office. Together, they will visit the exhibition “20 Years of the Two plus Four Treaty”, which is on view in the atrium of the Federal Foreign Office through 13 October.

From March to September 1990, the former Allies – the United States, the Soviet Union, France and the United Kingdom – joined representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR for the “Two plus Four” negotiations, clearing the way for the restoration of a unified and sovereign Germany.

Walter Scheel served as Federal Foreign Minister from 1969 to 1974. On 3 June 1972 the Ostverträge (eastern treaties) between the Federal Republic of Germany, the Soviet Union and Poland went into effect, settling the issues concerning Germany’s borders.

”12 August 1970, the day when the Moscow Treaty was concluded and I sent the Russian Government the Letter on German Unity, was one of the finest moments of my political career. The fact that what we named as our goal in the Letter on German Unity became a reality in 1989 and 1990 is simply phenomenal,“

Walter Scheel says today.