World
German foreign minister calls off Australia trip due to mechanical issues with plane
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday her planned week-long trip to the Indo-Pacific region had to be cancelled due to repeated mechanical issues with her government plane.
“We have tried everything: unfortunately it is logistically impossible to continue my Indo-Pacific trip without the defective plane. This is more than annoying,” said Baerbock on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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On Monday, the plane had attempted to make the journey from Abu Dhabi twice but was forced to return for safety reasons due to a technical malfunction with the wing flaps, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on X.
Baerbock had been due to travel to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.
Last year, Baerbock also had to cancel a trip to meet with her British counterpart, James Cleverly, due to poor weather.
In 2018, former Chancellor Angela Merkel missed the opening of the G20 summit in Argentina over a “serious malfunction” that forced her government plane to make an unscheduled landing.
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