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The United States of America in Austria | American Expats in Vienna
Austria and the U.S. - Read the latest headlines about bilateral relations in the areas of economy, business, investment, diplomacy, culture and tourism
Multilateralism: Austrian Delegation at UN General Assembly in New York City
Federal Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein is attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York together with Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and Sustainability Minister Maria Patek. Schallenberg speaks as Austria's representative.
September 20, 2019
Passing the Baton at Fulbright Austria
Fulbright Austria has recently been placed under a new leadership. Dr. Hermann Agis has replaced the former executive director Dr. Lonnie R. Johnson, who will retire on September 30, after over 20 years of service.
September 12, 2019
Pfizer Invests 50 Million Euros in Lower Austria
Pfizer is expanding its site in Orth an der Donau by investing 50 million euros in the construction of new laboratories for an international quality control center for vaccines, the construction of modern office space and the modernization and expansion of the existing production infrastructure. Pfizer already produces two vaccines for worldwide export in Orth an der Donau.
August 28, 2019
Geopolitical Talks: American Diplomacy in a Disordered World
Former US Deputy Secretary of State William Joseph Burns will talk about "American Diplomacy in a Disordered World" at the Institute for Human Sciences Vienna.
August 28, 2019
USA and Austrian Ministry of the Interior Intensify International Cooperation
During his meeting with the Austrian Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Peschorn, the US Ambassador to Austria, Trevor Traina, spoke among other things about the continuation of cooperation in the fields of organised crime and counter-terrorism.
August 24, 2019
Austria ist Überall: Austria's Exporters in the United States
The Austrian Trade Commissioner in New York, Michael Friedl, is pleased about the successful business of Austrian companies in the US American market with record export figures of 10.6 billion euros and a trade balance surplus of 4.6 billion euros.
August 23, 2019
Uber Suspends all Services in Austria Temporarily
Uber Technologies, the driving service provider, is temporarily discontinuing all services in Austria. The reason for this is a temporary order issued by the Commercial Court of Vienna. Accordingly, Uber Technologies requires a subsidiary and a trade licence in order to offer its services.
July 25, 2019
Updated Directory of Foreign Ambassadors in Austria 2019
Below you will find the updated Vindobona.org list of foreign ambassadors and representatives of the bilateral and multilateral missions and representations in Vienna, Austria (including description of persons, pictures, CVs, etc.).
November 19, 2018 · Updated: July 19, 2019; 11:50
Central European University Accredited as Private University in Vienna
The Austrian accreditation procedure for the CEU Central European University was successfully completed, so that the university can now start its operations in Vienna. Until now, the university was accredited in the USA and Hungary, the teaching took place exclusively in Hungary.
July 12, 2019
Foreign Trade: Imports and Exports Pass the 150 Billion Euro Mark for the First Time
The total nominal value of imports of goods in 2018 was 5.8% higher than in the previous year at 156.06 billion euros, while exports of goods rose by 5.7% to 150.1 billion euros. This results in a trade deficit of 5.99 billion euros. More than half of Austria's foreign trade was spread across only five countries.
July 10, 2019
Uber Ridesharing Threatens to Retreat from Austria
The US transportation network company Uber wants to mobilise against the taxi and rental car reform in Austria with a petition. The new law would be a setback for Austria in several respects. If the new law is passed on 3 July, we will no longer be able to offer services such as UberX, according to a statement by Uber.
June 27, 2019
Oligarch Firtash May Be Extradited to the USA
The Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash may be extradited from Austria to the USA. The Supreme Court of Justice of Austria (OGH) confirmed a corresponding ruling of the Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG) and dismissed both a nullity appeal of the General Procurator's Office and a renewal application by Firtash's defense counsel. The decision as to whether Firtash will actually be extradited lies now with the new Austrian Minister of Justice, Clemens Jabloner.
June 25, 2019
Austrian Foreign Minister Schallenberg at EU Foreign Affairs Council for the First Time
In Luxembourg, Federal Minister Alexander Schallenberg represented Austria for the first time at the FAC Foreign Affairs Council and the Council of the European Union.
June 21, 2019
Elisabeth Gürtler Receives United States Friendship Award
Austrian entrepreneur Elisabeth Gürtler-Mauthner (69) received the Cultural Icon Award in acknowledgement of her achievements and long friendship with the United States of America from US Ambassador Trevor Traina.
June 20, 2019
40 Years of the UN in Vienna - The Tireless Commitment of António Guterres
UN Secretary General António Guterres completed a busy programme when he came to Vienna for the 40th anniversary celebrations and the R20 Austria World Summit. The VIC Vienna International Centre is the place where, with the help of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the 193 member states, 15 Vienna-based UN organisations and more than 5000 people from 125 countries from around the world are bound together.
May 31, 2019
Diplomats for the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia 2019
More and more embassies, delegations and permanent representations to international organisations supported this day (IDAHOBIT), that raises awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide, as well as EuroPride 2019 in Vienna.
May 29, 2019
Amerika Haus: Rushan Abbas About Concentration Camps in Xinjiang, China
Rushan Abbas, a Uighur American whose family members have been detained in China, spoke at the Amerika Haus Wien about various human rights violations against Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province. In her presentation "China’s Concentration Camps in a Muted World" she pointed out, that far West China’s Uyghur people, a minority Muslim group, face a high-tech police state, cultural genocide, and mass detainment in modern concentration camps.
May 29, 2019
ALPS 2019: How Diplomacy and Commerce Fit Together
As part of the 11th ALPS round in May 2019, 21 international company and start-up founders from 13 non-EU countries had the opportunity to make contact with Austrian decision-makers, explore ways of working together and develop new ideas.
May 16, 2019
The Ambassadors of the Four Allied Powers in the Austrian Federal Chancellery
On the occasion of the "Liberation" Day of Austria from National Socialism by the Allies in 1945 and the end of the Second World War (Victory in Europe Day), Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz received the four ambassadors of the USA (Trevor Traina), Great Britain (Leigh Turner), France (representative of Francois Marcel Michel Saint-Paul) and Russia (Dmitrij Ljubinskij) at the Federal Chancellery.
May 13, 2019
Commemoration Ceremony at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp
Memorial Day against Violence and Racism for the Victims of National Socialism and Liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp on 5 May 1945, where 100,000 people were murdered.
May 6, 2019
Meet the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Austria: Ms. Robin Dunnigan
Robin Dunnigan assumed the duties of Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Austria in July 2018.
May 2, 2019
WeWork Cooperation to Facilitate Internationalization of Austrian Start-ups in the USA
The aim of the cooperation between shared workspace provider WeWork and AWS - Austria Wirtschaftsservice is to support innovative Austrian start-ups in their internationalisation in New York and on the US market.
April 26, 2019
Vienna Stock Exchange - More US Stocks on Offer
The global market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange will be expanded with listings of primarily US companies but also stocks from Europe.
April 26, 2019
Vienna's Jewish Square and Europe
The US historian Timothy Snyder will give a lecture on the topic "Judenplatz 1010 - A speech to Europe 2019". The place and time chosen for the lecture are no coincidence: European history is presented at Vienna’s Judenplatz like in no other place.
April 18, 2019
McDonald's Austria: Record Year for System Catering Market Leader
With an increase of 52 million euros (+ 8%), the Austrian subsidiary of the US system gastronomy market leader McDonald's achieved sales of 674 million euros in 2018.
April 9, 2019
Leaders Discuss Azerbaijani-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in Vienna
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met in Vienna for the first time under the auspices of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to discuss the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The two heads of state also met with Austrian President Van der Bellen and Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
April 5, 2019
International Financial Institutions World Bank Group and IMF Expand Presence in Austria
Important success for Austria's business location policy. According to media reports, the IMF International Monetary Fund will move to Vienna in June, while the World Bank Group will double the staff and size of its Vienna office.
March 29, 2019
Austria's Most Important Trading Partners - Ranking of the Top-20
Although the United States is only the second largest Austrian export partner after Germany, in 2018 exports exceeded the ten billion euro mark for the first time, growing by +9.7%. Imports, on the other hand, were only about half as high. Of the top 20 import partners, all, with the exception of Switzerland, showed a positive development. Imports from Russia, the UK, Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia recorded double-digit growth.
March 29, 2019
Great American Artist Mark Rothko in Vienna
Mark Rothko (1903–1970) was among the most remarkable artists (abstract expressionist) of the twentieth century. This exhibition, the first ever to be mounted in Austria, presents a survey of Rothko’s career through more than forty major paintings to explore ideas of the sacred, the spiritual, the tragic and the timeless.
March 22, 2019
Is Benko's Chrysler Deal in the Big Apple a Bargain?
The New York property firm RFR Holding LLC of German-American Aby J. Rosen, together with Signa Holding of Tyrolean real estate investor Rene Benko, is buying the traditional Chrysler Building in New York City for around 150 million dollars. The land is not part of the deal and the rent amounted to USD 32.5 million in 2018 and will continue to rise to USD 41 million a year by 2028.
March 11, 2019
Burger King Austria Acquires Rosenberger Motorway Restaurants
The Austrian franchisee TQSR of the US fast food chain Burger King has purchased 100% of the shares in Rosenberger Restaurant GmbH, which is currently undergoing restructuring, and is financing the 20% quota offered to creditors in the restructuring plan. The transaction value for the 14 Rosenberger Restaurant locations, including the net financial liabilities assumed, amounts to approximately EUR 9 million.
February 27, 2019
Huawei Austria Sponsors Austrian Chinese Business Association
The Chinese technology group Huawei and the ACBA Austrian Chinese Business Association have sealed their cooperation at an evening event entitled "Huawei - Inside & Outside" at the Grand Hotel Vienna. Huawei is disputed internationally because of its 5G wireless network technology and its close connection to the Chinese government. Huawei maintains good business relations with the largest carriers in Austria, A1 Telekom Austria (America Movil), Hutchison Whampoa (Drei Austria) and T-Mobile Austria and supplies them with expensive 5G network equipment. In addition, Huawei will open its first flagship store outside China in downtown Vienna in the summer of 2019.
February 27, 2019
Chancellor Kurz in Washington, D.C. - Trump Demands Higher Military Expenditures
US President Donald Trump and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz met in the White House for a working meeting. The trade relations, the demand for higher military expenditures for Austria, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project and the Serbia-Kosovo conflict were addressed.
February 21, 2019
Fight Against Anti-Semitism - The Jewish Community in NYC and Austria
As part of his trip to the USA, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz met David Harris, Executive Director of the AJC American Jewish Committee, and once again Holocaust survivor Rabbi Arthur Schneier.
February 21, 2019
Meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - Focus on Middle East Conflict
The meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz focused on the Middle East conflict. According to Kurz, the USA is currently working on "a solution to the situation in the Middle East". The US will therefore "probably present a proposal" before the end of this year.
February 21, 2019
USA Visit by Federal Chancellor Kurz - Focus on Economic Relations
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz travels to the USA on an official working visit. During the trip, Kurz will meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton, Ivanka Trump, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump in Washington will last only about 15 minutes.
February 19, 2019
Trump's Top Diplomat in Charge of European Affairs at the State Department Visits Vienna
Aaron Wess Mitchell, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, who is only in office for a few more days, met the Austrian Foreign Minister for a working breakfast in Vienna. Afterwards they visited Clemens Metternich's former office together with US Ambassador Trevor Traina and his wife.
February 11, 2019
The End of the INF Treaty - Europe Could Become a Nuclear War Zone
In an interview with the APA - Austria Press Agency the political scientist and disarmament expert Heinz Gärtner recently stated that the background of the US termination of the INF Treaty on the Prohibition of Medium-Range Nuclear Weapons might be the expansion of the deterrence potential and that Europe could thus become the target area of a nuclear conflict. At a panel discussion organized by the International Institute for Peace (IIP) on 11 February 2019, Heinz Gärtner, together with representatives of the United States and the Russian Federation, will examine the background of this issue.
February 5, 2019
United Nations - Dr. Alexander Marschik Appointed New Austrian Ambassador to the UN Headquarters in NYC
In the context of an extensive replacement of ambassadors in the Foreign Ministry, Dr. Alexander Marschik was entrusted with the direction of the Austrian Mission to the United Nations in New York City. As a diplomat with 4 years of professional experience in New York, it is a return to familiar parquet.
January 24, 2019
Hollywood in Austria's Mountains - Avalanche Drama Film Follows Current Avalanche Danger
In Tyrol, a Hollywood drama about a married couple whose perfectly believed family life gets completely out of balance when they barely escape an avalanche is currently in the making. Austrian film funding supports the production of "Downhill" with Will Farell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. With a shooting time of 8 weeks, an added value of 7 million Euros and 10,000 overnight stays is expected.
January 18, 2019
New Appointments of Austrian Diplomatic Posts Abroad
At its meeting of 25 April 2018, the Austrian Council of Ministers decided to entrust the following Foreign Ministry officials with the direction of Austrian Missions.
April 25, 2018 · Updated: January 11, 2019; 17:15
US Filmmaker Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf Go Wild as Guest Curators at the Vienna Museum of Fine Arts
The American director Wes Anderson, known from films such as "The Grand Budapest Hotel" or most recently "Isle of Dogs", and his partner, the writer and costume designer Juman Malouf, were invited by the Vienna Museum of Fine Arts (KHM - Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien) to design an exhibition according to their taste. The result is an exhibition entitled "Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures".
January 10, 2019
New Austrian Foreign Trade Strategy: Growth, Jobs, Prosperity
In a joint event in the Aula of Sciences, the Federal Government's new foreign trade strategy was presented by Economics Minister Margarete Schramböck, Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl and President of the Chamber of Commerce Harald Mahrer. The key points of the strategy are the following: Perspective, value orientation, location effect, focal points, future orientation, communication, efficient coordination.
December 20, 2018
Ed Ruscha at the Vienna Secession - "Double Americanisms"
American artist associated with the pop art movement, Edward Joseph Ruscha had a decisive influence on the development of art in the USA from the 1950s onwards and with it on the current understanding of contemporary art. The exhibition at the Vienna Secession shows fifty-seven of his works. It marks the public debut of a new series of linguistic paintings. Used parchment drumheads are inscribed with locutions whose shared feature is the use of a double negation - "I Ain't Telling You No Lie," for example, and "I Can't Find My Keys Nowhere."
December 17, 2018
American Christmas Gospel in the Viennese Karlskirche
What would the Advent season be without music? Until Christmas there is still the possibility to enjoy a special listening pleasure. In the Karlskirche, gospel music is performed that is otherwise only celebrated in masses in the USA. The feeling of Harlem, St. Louis and Jersey fascinates every spectator and is a musical feast for the ears, which, in addition to the smell of gingerbread and the pleasure of punch, creates a Christmas mood of a special kind.
December 14, 2018 · Sponsored Content
Three Americans in Vienna: Model - Arbus - Goldin
Three great American photographers, Lisette Model, Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin whose images radically expanded contemporary perspectives on society, are the theme of an exhibition at the Galerie Westlicht.
December 14, 2018
Leonard Bernstein - "I am enjoying Vienna enormously - as much as a Jew can"
An exhibition in the Jewish Museum Vienna to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the star conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein focuses on the New Yorker’s relationship with the music city of Vienna, looks at the great artist’s Jewish roots, and also pays homage to his political activities.
December 14, 2018
Soros University Leaves Budapest in Favor of Vienna
In Hungary, the Central European University (CEU) has faced massive hostility. As a consequence, the location will be relocated to Vienna. Michael Ignatieff, the rector of CEU, announced this week in Budapest that the university is finally moving: "This is a dark day for freedom in Hungary, and it's a dark day for academic freedom." In Vienna, negotiations are still underway on a suitable building for interim use from 2019. By 2023, the university is to move permanently to the grounds of the Otto Wagner Hospital.
December 6, 2018
American International School Vienna: "The United Nations is rather similar to the AIS"
Students and nursery-school children came together at the AIS American International School for the celebration of the UN Day.
November 15, 2018
Reception for Holocaust Survivors in the Austrian Parliament: "Never again!"
Rabbi Arthur Schneier from New York, speaking at the reception for Holocaust survivors in parliament, called for a common commitment to "Never again" and to live together in peace and mutual respect.
November 9, 2018