In her welcoming address, Mayor Katja Dörner congratulated ECMWF on its milestone birthday and 50 years of successful research work: "With its world-leading expertise in weather and climate research, ECMWF has made scientific history and has been a great asset to our city, the international community in Bonn and the Bonn region as a science location since 2021." She referred to ECMWF's close cooperation with the German Weather Service, the German Aerospace Center and the CESOC network - consisting of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne and Forschungszentrum Jülich. It shows how fruitful the exchange between European and German research institutions is. "Central European projects such as Copernicus and Destination Earth are being driven forward from Bonn - pioneering initiatives that are important not only for climate research, but for humanity as a whole. The fact that this work takes place in the immediate vicinity of the UN Climate Change Secretariat once again underlines Bonn's role as a global hub for climate and sustainability issues," Katja Dörner continued.
ECMWF Director General Florence Rabier, said: "We opened our offices in Bonn in the midst of the worst pandemic our generation has ever experienced. This was only possible through the hard work and kindness of our hosts, and we are very grateful to the city of Bonn for their great support in making this all possible. We are so proud to have been chosen as the City of Bonn's international partner in our 50th anniversary year. There could not have been a more fitting way to illustrate our close partnership."
Gertrud Husch, Head of the Digital Connectivity Department at the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport, Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Sarah Jones, President of the German Weather Service, also congratulated the company on its 50th anniversary.
About the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
Founded in 1975, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is a world leader in global numerical weather prediction and climatology and a central part of Europe's weather forecasting and climate research infrastructure. Following Brexit, ECMWF opened new offices in Bonn, focusing on ECMWF's activities with the EU, while the headquarters remain in Reading, UK. Bonn prevailed against eight top-class competing offers from neighboring European countries and the first employees started work in the City of Bonn in August 2021.
Further information: https://ecmwf.int/ (opens in a new tab) and https://www.bmdv.bund.de/SharedDocs/DE/Artikel/DG/europaeisches-zentrum-fuer-mittelfristige-wettervorhersage.html (opens in a new tab).
Background Annual Partnership
Every year since 2000, the City of Bonn has invited an international organization based in Bonn to participate in an annual partnership. Among other things, the organization has the opportunity to present itself and its topics in a series of high-profile events. The city supports these events with extensive services. With the annual partnerships, the city of Bonn contributes to intensified international and municipal cooperation. Further information on the annual partnership can be found here.