Austria's Ambassador to Canada visits Sudbury; flag gets royal treatment

Posted By The Sudbury Star

Updated 1 month ago

Austria's ambassador to Canada, Werner Brandstetter, and his wife, Leonie-Maria, who were in the city for an official visit, did the honours in sending the flag up again early Friday afternoon.

Greater Sudbury's Austrian community is small, numbering less than 100. Less than a dozen people, many whose spouses are of Austrian descent, were on hand for the flag re-raising.

Brandstetter was visiting the city for economic reasons.

"I understand there have been consultations in the commercial sense between Austria and Sudbury in the past," he said.

"I have met representatives of the City of Sudbury at an event from a meeting between Canadian and Austrian businesspeople. I got invited for a visit."

Brandstetter called Greater Sudbury a "beautiful" city and said he admired the regreening work that has taken place.

"Austria is very much interested in the environment," he said.

"There are a lot of things we have in common."

The ambassador said he is interested in seeing partnerships and links developed between Laurentian University and Austrian universities in the field of mining.

"This could be one of the areas where we could try and establish a working relationship," he said.

A third area Brandstetter said that Greater Sudbury and his country have in common is renewable energy.

"Austria is very much interested in renewable energy," he said.

Brandstetter became Austria's ambassador to Canada in late 2008. Prior to that, he was his country's ambassador to Brazil.

When he took on the post, Brandstetter said that economic opportunities would be his main focus. Canada is Austria's fourth-largest export market, with 40-plus Austrian companies having direct investments in Canada.

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