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Helmut Kohl addresses the United Nations, June 1997.

Helmut Kohl Transcripts

Featuring hundreds of Helmut Kohl’s conversations with world leaders after the end of the Cold War, the Helmut Kohl Transcripts offers tremendous insights into international diplomacy in the 1990s and Kohl's efforts to forge a post-Cold War foreign policy for Germany. Kohl's foreign policy conversations covered the full gamut of global issues and challenges, including European integration, NATO enlargement, the Balkan Wars, the Middle East peace process, diplomacy with Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, and more.

Helmut Kohl addresses the United Nations, June 1997.

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November 10, 1989

Memorandum of Telephone Conversation: Conversation with Helmut Kohl, Chancellor – Federal Republic of Germany, November 10, 1989, 3:29-3:47PM

Telephone conversation between President George H. W. Bush and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on the situation in Germany.

February 3, 1994

The Chancellor's [Helmut Kohl's] Lunch Meeting with President Clinton in Washington on 31 January 1994

Kohl and Clinton review the state of NATO enlargement after the January 1994 NATO Summit in Brussels. They view NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) as the best solution to engage Russia and to reach out to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Both view the situation in Ukraine as a key factor in the search for Europe's post-Cold War order. "If anything happened in Ukraine, this would increase the pressure for the NATO accession of the Central and Eastern European countries," Clinton says.

November 13, 1990

The Chancellor's [Helmut Kohl's] Meeting with Soviet President M.S. Gorbachev on 9 November 1990, 3:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Federal Chancellery

Kohl and Gorbachev review the state of bilateral relations, the Gulf crisis and the situation in the Soviet Union, especially with regards to Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost and the Soviet Union's economic reforms. They discuss Western economic assistance and food supplies for the Soviet Union as well.

November 7, 1991

Memorandum of Conversation between the President [George H.W. Bush] and Helmut Kohl et al, November 7, 1991, 5:35-6:00 p.m.

Kohl and Bush talk about the NATO summit, the creation of a European pillar in NATO, the war in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union's disintegration.

July 5, 1994

The Chancellor's [Helmut Kohl's] Meeting with the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, Li Peng, on 4 July 1994 from 9.55 to 11.05 a.m. at the Federal Chancellery

Kohl and Li Peng discuss human rights in China and the Chinese interpretation of the Tiananmen   Square protests and massacre of 1989. Moreover, they review the relationship between the Vatican and China, German policy on Taiwan, China and  GATT, China and the USA as well as EC trade restrictions vis-à-vis China.
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Photograph of Helmut Kohl, 1982.

Introducing the Helmut Kohl Transcripts

Helmut Kohl wanted to build relationships based on cordiality, frankness, and friendship. He spoke frequently with the likes of George H.W. Bush, Francois Mitterrand, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and many other foreign leaders. 

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