On May 12, 2016, Thomas Schmidt, Minister of the Environment in Saxony, and his Chilean ministerial colleague, Carolina Schmidt, have officially signed a joint declaration that formalizes the intensification of Chilean-Saxon collaboration in the field of environmental protection. After signing the official declaration, both environment ministers attended the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which took place in Berlin from May 13 to May 14, 2019.

The Petersberg Climate Dialogue was first organized in 2010 at the initiative of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. The annual event aims to allow ministers from different countries to work together more closely in order to advance new policies and actions to fight climate change and environmental destruction. This year, Germany hosted the Petersberg Climate Dialogue together with Chile as a co-host that will host the event in 2020.

The joint agreement signed by the environment ministers of Chile and Saxony within the context of the 2019 Petersberg Climate Dialogue will allow both Chile and Saxony to collaborate more closely in regard to recycling, environmental standards for water quality protection as well as in regard to the bioremediation of polluted and contaminated areas and sites.

The agreement between Chile and Saxony also underlines how cultural diplomacy, even by promoting closer exchange and cooperation at the ministerial level, can induce important policy initiatives and collaborative efforts to solve the most pressing issues and challenges of today such as climate change and the protection of the environment.

• - https://twitter.com/embachileberlin
• - https://www.sueddeutsche.de/news/wissen/umwelt---dresden-sachsen-und-chile-engere-zusammenarbeit-beim-umweltschutz-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-190513-99-196144
• - https://www.bmu.de/en/topics/climate-energy/climate/international-climate-policy/petersberg-climate-dialogue/10-years-of-pcd/
• - https://www.bmu.de/en/topics/climate-energy/climate/international-climate-policy/petersberg-climate-dialogue/