Kurt Bodewig Bundesminister a.D.

Opening Remarks for the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference

18.05.2009

Dear Mart Jüssi, Dear Mrs Anne Grete Holmsgaard, Dear Mr Mads Nikolajsen, Dear colleagues,

I am proud and happy to welcome you here in Berlin. Mart – I thank you very much that you agreed to invite the members of our working group on energy and climate change to Berlin. I believe that our agenda is a good combination of the hard work we have to do in our discussions about the group’s political recommendations and the Final Report for the 18th BSPC in Denmark in August / September AND also the practical side of the topic we are dealing with. I have arranged a guided tour through the Reichstag and a visit to a Hydrogen Filling Station.

Both are some kind of best practice–examples of how renewable energy could and should be used: After its reconstruction in the beginning of the 1990ies the Reichstag is an ecological system in itself. You will see how an energy-saving and efficient energy-technology was implemented into this great historic building.

One of the most promising technologies is the use of hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles and a source of electricity and heat. The TOTAL hydrogen filling station in Berlin is helping to establish the German capital as one of the world’s top locations for testing and demonstrating hydrogen for cars and busses. A fleet of 14 buses with specially modified internal combustion engines is already operated by Berlins BVG public transport company.

Dear colleagues, I am happy to have you here and I am looking forward to our concentrated work. However, tonight I will invite you all for a dinner in relaxed atmosphere. Thank you.