Overview
- Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Vice-Chancellor/Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil briefly met on the Reykjavik tarmac during refueling before continuing on separate government aircraft.
- The Foreign Office said shared travel had been considered but was not feasible due to differing schedules and program flows.
- Wadephul stayed about an hour in Iceland for talks with Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir and stressed the North Atlantic’s strategic role for NATO and possible larger German contributions to Arctic security.
- Klingbeil traveled on to Washington for a meeting of finance ministers focused on access to critical raw materials such as lithium and rare earths, and he participated before returning to Berlin.
- After Washington, Wadephul was scheduled to meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and then continue to New York for talks with UN Secretary‑General António Guterres.