Pittsburgh/Berlin (dpa/lsw) - When the heads of government of the federal states and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) discuss the federal relief package worth billions on Tuesday (4:30 p.m.), Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann will be physically almost 6800 kilometers away. Nevertheless, he definitely wants to take part in the round - and can be connected from Pittsburgh in the US state of Pennsylvania. Kretschmann wants to insist on more money from the federal government in the negotiations - including for local rail transport in the federal states. "I hope that everything will work out technically and then politically."
In return, he misses a visit to a Bosch research center and a company for autonomous vehicles. After the negotiations, the Green politician will travel to Sacramento in California.
Kretschmann is traveling to the USA this week with a delegation of more than 100 people. There he wants to establish contacts for the Southwest in Pittsburgh and California. It is the head of government's first major trip abroad since 2018. The focus is on the topics of artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and the future of the healthcare industry.
