Dear ADBC members,

It gives me great pleasure to bring this update to you. The first half of 2017 is coming to an end and what a memorable 6 months it has been, with a great number of events and important visits celebrating and strengthening the ties between Denmark and the United States.

Following the visit by the Danish Prime Minister, Mr. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, ADBC hosted a reception in Congress celebrating the close Danish-American ties with the Congressional Friends of Denmark caucus. We had the pleasure of again having caucus co-chair Congressman Hoyer attending along with Congressman Larsen and Congresswoman Plaskett. The event provided an excellent opportunity for the representatives to meet with Danish companies with interests in the United States, and it was great to see so many of you attending. You can read more about the event in this newsletter.

In continuation of our support of charitable causes, I recently attended the annual Warrior Week in Virginia Beach, which was kicked off with a reception hosted by the Governor of Virginia, Mr. Terry McAuliffe. In attendance was Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Mr. David Shulkin, Danish Minister of Defense, Mr. Claus Hjort Frederiksen, along with several ADBC members. Warrior Week is a week full of activities for wounded veterans, and we had several member companies providing generous donations in support of the Danish wounded veterans attending. The donations made it possible for them to make the trip from Denmark, and I am truly thrilled to experience such a commitment in supporting our wounded veterans. As part of the Warrior Week, I also had the joyful experience of skydiving alongside the Governor of Virginia, with us landing on the beach next to the main stage. It was truly an experience that will stick with me for a long time. You can read a lot more about Warrior Week in this newsletter.

Warrior Week was followed up by the Embassy’s new flagship event, our Constitution Day celebration. More than 600 people joined us for a night of celebration, including our wounded veterans. The evening had great speeches from our Congressional Friends of Denmark Caucus co-chair Congressman Cole and our Minister of Defense, Mr. Claus Hjort Frederiksen; and last but not least an extraordinary speech by Jacob Panton representing the Danish veterans. It was great to see so many of you attend, and I hope you all had a wonderful night. You can find a lot of great pictures in this newsletter.

I would like to conclude by thanking all our members for a great first half of 2017 and I look forward to the second half of 2017 with great anticipation of the many events to come.

I wish you all a great summer.

Sincerely,
Ambassador Lars Lose