U.S. Ambassador Kennedy Visits Carinthia
The Ambassador of the United States of America, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, was a guest in Carinthia. After a visit to the Carinthian provincial government and a meeting with Governor Peter Kaiser, she also examined the "American shelves" in the AK Library in Villach.
Governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser (l.) and U.S. Ambassador Victoria Reggie Kennedy (r.). / Picture: © U.S. Embassy Vienna / Flickr Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Victoria Reggie Kennedy took office as Ambassador to Austria in January 2022. An inaugural visit to Governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) now also took her to Carinthia. The ambassador thanked Kaiser for the warm welcome "in this beautiful country". She was impressed by the many cooperations Carinthia was promoting on the economic and international levels.
The ambassador then took part in a lively exchange with students from the Institute of English and American Studies at the University of Klagenfurt, during which she answered questions about U.S. society, culture and the political system.
The following day, Ambassador Kennedy visited the headquarters of the Kostwein Group, a manufacturing company in Klagenfurt. During her visit, the Ambassador spoke with apprentices at the company about their jobs and motivations for choosing a career.
Kennedy also examined the "American shelves", a selection of American literature in the AK library in Villach, and then answered some fascinating questions from the students of the BG/BRG Villach St. Martin. About 50 high school students had gathered in the library of the Chamber of Labor to discuss with Ambassador Kennedy topics such as the American midterm elections, health care and gun rights in the United States.
During the visit, Mayor Günther Albel (SPÖ) also met with the acting ambassador and exchanged views on future topics relating to technology, the environment and sustainability, as well as the economic importance of Austria for the USA: "Austria is the fastest growing foreign investment country in the United States and a reliable partner for peace," the US ambassador emphasized.