Ladies and gentlemen,
The Fehmarnbelt Days are taking place for the fourth time this year.

They have proven to be a very productive platform, and one thing is sure: Hamburg fully supports this project, which we believe is essential for a strong working relationship between Northern Germany and Scandinavia in the future.

The fixed Fehmarnbelt link is a project of European scale.

It is of the utmost importance for the development of the entire northern region. Efficient traffic connections are key to ensuring sustainable growth of regions and cities, our companies and research institutions.

And many people stand to profit, once they are able to travel from Hamburg to Copenhagen in a more convenient way than ever before in just two and a half hours without setting foot on an airplane.

Together, we want to be a leading region for research and innovation, for renewable energies and zero emission mobility.

New technologies and state of the art mobility concepts are what will drive the green innovation we strive for in our alliance – fittingly called GREAT.

That’s why we are looking to Copenhagen with the greatest interest this year, both because the city is hosting the world congress for intelligent transportation systems and also because Copenhagen is a global role model for well-organized urban cycling.

We hope that by the time Hamburg hosts the ITS congress in 2021, our cities will have moved several steps ahead in developing a charging infrastructure for e-mobility, using shuttles on demand and other ITS projects.

Ladies and gentlemen,the major cities of the world, developments are emerging and the key questions of the future are posed here before they reach the rest of the world.

So we have the opportunity to identify problems earlier and develop solutions to improve social change and people's lives.

Cities focus economic and cultural power. They are places of liberality and diversity. Their urban density is ecologically sound and generates the great creative potential that we need to overcome the challenges of the coming decades.

A positive view of the chances of the future, the determination to make things better, this is what should characterize the policy for our cities.

In order to tackle these issues of the future successfully, the most important resource is knowledge of the potential of technological and social progress.

Therefore, knowledge and science are the decisive dimension of our future development.

Great discoveries are no longer made on the seas or on foreign continents, but in laboratories and research centers.

Science gives us the decisive edge of an innovative economy. It develops climate-friendly and low-emission technologies that enable us to live in a modern metropolis in harmony with nature and in healthy conditions.

Basic research, as practiced at DESY and XFEL in Hamburg or at European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, is crucial for the innovation and competitiveness of our economy.

We should support a good cooperation between our scientific institutions, and we have to ensure that scientific knowledge and innovative companies come together and form successful chains of innovation.

Ladies and gentlemen,In January 2018, five new partners joined our STRING cooperation.

In addition, the cities of Gothenburg and Oslo are participating as observers this year and we would be happy if they also chose to become members in future.

And now I would like to pass the baton of the Fehmarnbelt Days to the new hosts: to Henrik Fritzon, First Governor Region Skåne, and to Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, Mayor of Malmö Stad.

All the best and thank you very much!

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