The Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation in the Field of Intersocietal Relations, Cultural and Information Policy, Peter Beyer, is visiting the United States from 24 February to 1 March 2019. He will be travelling to Tucson, Arizona and Houston, Texas.

In Arizona he intends to get an insight into the situation at the border with Mexico from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “As much as I understand the legitimate security interests of the United States, a wall will not solve domestic problems,” Beyer said. It had been shown not least by German history, he went on, that walls can only do one thing: separate people. Isolationism does not bring security over the long term, Beyer added.

In Tucson, Beyer will discuss current issues in transatlantic relations with students at the University of Arizona.

While in Houston, Beyer will have talks at NASA and also visit the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal (an export terminal for liquefied natural gas) operated by Cheniere Energy, Inc. on the border between Texas and Louisiana. “The American LNG industry is a powerful competitor for gas from western Siberia, Qatar, the North Sea and Norway and therefore of geopolitical importance for German energy policy too,” Beyer said.