King Philippe and Queen Mathilde Begin Official Visit to the State of Rhineland-Palatinate

Today, Wednesday October 5, Their Majesties King Philippe and Queen Mathilde started a two-day official visit to the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The official visit began in Mainz, capital of the state, where the Royal Couple paid a visit to the headquarter of the BioNTeCH research institute. BioNTeCH is a pharmaceutical company that, together with Pfizer, have developed a vaccine against Covid-19. Upon the arrival at the facility, the King and the Queen were welcomed by Malu Dreyer, Prime Minister, Clemens Hoch, Minister for Science and Health of the state, Sean Marett CBO and CO of BioNTech and Jens Holstein CFO of BioNTech.
The Royal Couple toured the laboratories of the company and was informed about the research in the field of therapies against cancer but also about the Covid-19 vaccine.
Then the King and the Queen, accompanied by Prime Minister Dreyer and Michael Ebling, Mayor of the city, visited the Gutenberg Museum, a museum dedicated to Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing and native of Mainz. The Museum is “one of the world’s oldest museums for printing”. At the Museum the King and the Queen signed the golden book of the city and viewed an original copy of the Biblia Latina that was printed by Gutenberg. During the visit the King printed the first page of the Gospel of John.
At noon King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were officially welcomed by Prime Minister Malu Dreyer in the courtyard of the State Chancellery where, after the signing of the guest book and a meeting, took place a luncheon hosted by the Prime Minister.
In early afternoon the King and the Queen paid a visit to the headquarters of the chemical company BASF, “the world’s largest chemical company”. Upon the arrival at the plant the Royal Couple was welcomed by BASF CEO, Martin Brudermüller, site manager Melanie Maas-Brunner and the CEO of the BASF site in Antwerp, Jan Remeisen. The visit at the company was focused on the company’s sustainability goals and the ecological transition of heavy industry.
The first day of the official visit ended in the town of Deidesheim where the King and the Queen visited the Von Winning winery.

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Tagged King Philippe of the Belgians, Official Visit, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians.