Record numbers of Hamburg Ambassadors attend latest meeting

Delegates explored the city's latest innovations under the theme of  "Great things start in Hamburg". Tschentscher stressed: "As the 'gateway to the world', Hamburg has maintained good relations with all the continents for centuries. Hamburg's honorary ambassadors form a strong network that is highly committed to promoting Hamburg's interests abroad. They establish contacts, support collaboration and are skilled, local points of contact. In this way, they make an important contribution to the the international presenceand the public welfare of our city."

The three-day meeting featured keynote speeches, excursions and plenty of networking opportunities. "This year's motto 'Great things start in Hamburg' is trendsetting in many ways. On the one hand, we are looking forward to the summer of 2024, when the European Football Championship will be celebrated in Hamburg," said Dr Rolf Strittmatter, CEO of Hamburg Marketing GmbH, which organises the meeting. "On the other hand, Hamburg is showing signs of a promising future with unique concepts for putting renewable energies into operation or sustainable approaches to food production. This year's HamburgAmbassador meeting is all about new beginnings, innovation, future orientation and growth potential."

The meeting began with a reception hosted by the mayor in the Senate Guest House. The agenda also included breakfast in City Hall with Dr Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economics. Highlights included a tour of the Volksparkstadion with a presentation of the campaign and the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 fan festival, and a visit to Startup Labs Bahrenfeld with Denny Drossmann, Managing Director. Sophia Rödiger, Chief Marketing Officer of the Hamburg-based GreenTech unicorn 1Komma5°, and Anne-Cathrine Hutz, Vice President of Infinite Roots, also presented their latest innovations and developments. The HamburgAmbassadors also visited About You, Hamburg's first unicorn and one of Germany's fastest growing e-commerce companies, as well as a presentation by Laila Helmy, Head of Communications.

Prashant Rao's, Hamburg's first ambassador in Bangalore, India, is aiming to forge closer links in education, technology and with technology start-ups. Prashant Rao has over 20 years of experience in application development and hardware design and has led the MathWorks India Application Engineering team since 2009. He is also an expert shadow puppeteer - an art he learnt from his father, a renowned shadow puppeteer.

Sabrina Tams, a tax consultant and associate partner at Rödl & Partner, succeeds Dieter W. Elsner in Atlanta. Tams co-ordinates the tax transition between U.S. and German tax law. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Goethe-Zentrum in Atlanta. She is also a financial advisor to the German-American community. A native of Hamburg, Germany, she is particularly passionate about promoting Hamburg as a place of growth, opportunity and openness.

Dr Anh Ngoc Nguyen becomes HamburgAmbassador in Hanoi, Vietnam and succeeds Dr Phan Van Thanh, who had held this office since 2005. Dr Anh Ngoc Nguyen is the owner of the Home Dental Clinic in Hanoi with over 60 employees. From 2013 to 2015, he worked as a dentist in Norderstedt after completing his degree in dentistry at the University of Hamburg  in 2013. His network in Vietnam serves as a link between Hamburg and Hanoi and is expected to boost bilateral co-operation in various fields.
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