On 13 April 2012, four ambassadors presented their credentials to Federal President Joachim Gauck at Schloss Bellevue. The dignitaries from Kyrgyzstan, Panama, Peru and Portugal may only act as ambassadors of their countries to Germany after presenting their credentials to the Federal President. Once the Federal President has accepted the credentials, they will become the official representatives of their head of state in Germany.
This was Federal President Gauck’s first accreditation of foreign ambassadors since he took up office in mid-March.
Federal President Gauck received credentials from the following ambassadors:
• the Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic, Bolot Isaakovich Otunbayev,
• the Ambassador of the Republic of Panama, Juan R. Porras De La Guardia,
• the Ambassador of the Republic of Peru, José Antonio Meier Espinosa,
• as well as the Ambassador of the Portuguese Republic, Caetano Luís Pequito de Almeida Sampaio.
Accreditation ceremony
When a country wishes to appoint a person ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, the same procedure applies as when Germany appoints an ambassador abroad. To establish whether the Federal Republic approves the appointment, the country requests the Federal President’s agrément.
, the ambassador-designate is greeted in front of the Federal President’s official residence with military honours. He or she then signs the visitors book in the gallery and proceeds, accompanied by several high-ranking members of the embassy, to the Langhanssaal at Schloss Bellevue, where he or she presents his or her Letter of Credence to the Federal President and the outgoing ambassador’s Letter of Recall.
The new ambassador and the Federal President then withdraw for a first talk, which not only gives them the opportunity to get to know one another but often also to convey political messages. Leave is taken of the ambassador again with military honours, this time including the hoisting of his or her country’s national flag to show that the ambassador is now legally entitled to perform his or her duties. The ambassador is driven to and from the Federal President’s official residence in a presidential limousine with an escort of honour of 5 police motor-cycles.