On December 2, 2021, Ambassador Weiss joined Johannes Max-Theurer, the CEO of Plasser American, in the festive opening of the company’s newly expanded headquarters in Chesapeake, VA.

The Embassy Adoption Program is a partnership between DC Public Schools and Washington Performing Arts, which pairs embassies with fifth and sixth grade classes for a year's worth of cross-cultural learning, projects, and enrichment activities.

KTM North America, Inc. is currently building a new $50 million North American Group headquarters in Murrieta, CA. KTM, with global headquarters in Mattighofen, Austria, is a leading producer of high-performance motorcycles.

On November 16, 2021, the Austrian Embassy hosted an alumni meeting of US ALPS graduates, the Austrian Leadership Program Series.

On November 18, 2021, the Austrian Consul General in Los Angeles, Dr. Michael Postl, met with the Governor of Oregon, Kate Brown. It was Dr. Postl’s first official visit to Oregon since he assumed his post in August 2021.

On November 9, 2021 – the 83rd anniversary of “Kristallnacht” – the Shoah Wall of Names Memorial in Vienna, Austria, was officially inaugurated. The memorial commemorates the fate of more than 64,440 Jewish children, women and men from Austria who were murdered during the Shoah.

Ambassador Martin Weiss and the Embassy congratulate Contemporary Austrian Studies (CAS) for 30 years of scholarship. Contemporary Austrian Studies is a peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the empirical investigation of modern-day Austrian history, politics and society.

As part of the initiative ReFocus Austria, Federal Labor Minister Martin Kocher paid a visit to Washington, DC from October 17-19, 2021. During the visit, Federal Minister Kocher met with his U.S. counterpart Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, high ranking representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as well as leading members of the Government of the State of Maryland. The visit was the first offcial vist of an Austrian cabinet minister to the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic and Federal Minister Kocher was the first foreign visitor at the government level received by Secretary Walsh.

Austria and Vermont will become partners within the State Partnership Program of the U.S Department of Defense. The paring of Austria and Vermont was announced on October 15, 2021 as part of the U.S.-Austria Defense Talks between delegations from the Federal Ministry of Defense of Austria and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) held at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Austria becomes the first Western European nation and the 90th nation worldwide to join the DoD’s State Partnership Program.

On October 11, 2021, Alexander Schallenberg was sworn in as Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. He succeeds in this position Sebastian Kurz, who resigned from office. Until his appointment as head of government, Federal Chancellor Schallenberg has been serving as Austria’s Foreign Minister in the current coalition goverment between the conservative Austrian People’s Party (OeVP) and the ecologist Green party. Michael Linhart has been appointed Schallenberg’s successor as Federal Minister for European and International Affairs. Michael Linhart is a career diplomat and has been serving until recently as Ambassador of Austria to France.

On October 5, 2021, the new, historically revised Austrian national exhibition was opened in “Block 17” of the former concentration and extermination camp and present-day Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. The newly designed national exhibition was opened at a ceremony attended by a high-ranking Austrian delegation including Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka. In addition to the fate of the Austrian victims of Auschwitz and the acts of resistance by Austrian concentration camp inmates, the new exhibition also tells the story of Austrian involvement as perpetrators and accessories to the crimes committed there.

The renowned Austrian trauma anesthesiologist and head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Chicago, Professor Peter Nagele, has been awarded the “Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art.” The decoration, bestowed by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, was presented to Professor Nagele by the Austrian Ambassador to the United States, Martin Weiss, in a formal ceremony held on October 1, 2021, at the Ambassador's Residence in Washington, DC.

Every year in September, world leaders gather in New York City for the most high-profile United Nations event of the year, the opening of the new session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA). The 76th UNGA session was held in a hybrid format with some leaders attending in person and other attending virtually. Austria was represented this year by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, who all traveled in person to New York.

As one of the largest Austrian scientific gatherings in North America, the Austrian Research and Innovation Talk – ARIT is hosted annually by the Office of Science and Technology Austria – OSTA with the key goal to connect Austrian scientists and innovators based in North America with their peers, as well as with the Austrian STI landscape. This year’s ARIT took place as a hybrid event on September 18, 2021, in Washington, DC.

The 12th Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts goes to American artist Theaster Gates. The international jury praised the sculptor, ceramist and activist in a broadcast as someone who “recognizes a problem in the world, accepts challenges and brings about change in society and the city”. The prize, awarded with 55,000 Euros (USD 65,000), will be presented in late autumn by Vienna’s City Councilor for Culture, Veronica Kaup-Hasler.

According to new data on foreign direct investments (FDI) in the U.S. recently released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Austria takes second place in the ranking of countries with the fastest growing FDI in the U.S. Between 2015 and 2020, direct investments from Austria increased by 40.1%. The total FDI from Austria in the U.S. is estimated at USD 17.184 billion in 2020.

On August 26, 2021, Ambassador Martin Weiss, accompanied by the Embassy’s Economic and Trade Counselor Georg-Christian Lack, paid an official visit to Richmond, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

During a visit to the headquarters of Plasser American, the now 60-year successful North American subsidiary of the Austrian company Plasser & Theurer, Ambassador Weiss and Plasser American CEO Thomas Blechinger discussed opportunities and possibilities for Austrian rail technology to support the renewal of U.S. raiload infrastructure, as envisioned by the massive infrastructure package currently being negotiated in the U.S. Congress.

In a solem ceremony held at the Austrian Consulate General in New York on July 13, 2021, Austrian citizenship was “restituted” to 92-year-old Holocaust survivor Evelyn Konrad and five descendants of victims of National Socialist persecution. The new Austrian citizens were welcomed by Consul General Helene Steinhäusl and Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who personally handed over the citizenship certificates to Austria’s newest citizens.

On May 12, 2021, Consul General Helene Steinhäusl took up her duties as head of the Austrian Consulate General New York. She succeeds in this position Helmut Böck, who retired from the foreign service earlier this year. Helene Steinhäusl is an experienced Austrian diplomat who formerly served as Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia, East Timor and ASEAN, Ambassador to UNESCO, and until recently as Inspector General of the Austrian Foreign Ministry in Vienna.