By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

GERMANY’s envoy to the Philippines is on island to conduct research about the CNMI’s legal system and the current state of the economy.
Dr. Axel Weishaupt, a lawyer and linguist, paid a courtesy visit yesterday morning to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the German envoy will also meet with lawmakers and officials of the judiciary.
“We’re very pleased to welcome the German ambassador,” said Reyes.
He said Weishaupt will be on island for a few days for his research.
“My understanding is that he’s here to do some research on the CNMI legal system and the CNMI economy. He has met with the attorney general. I think he’s also supposed to meet with the members of the judiciary. He also met with the (Saipan) Chamber of Commerce which represents the private sector,” said Reyes.
“He’ll be here for a few days and we’re very pleased to have him especially since we have historical ties given the fact that the NMI was a former German colony. In fact the CNMI national anthem was derived from a German (song),” he added.
Weishaupt who studied foreign languages at the Universities of Hamburg, Bonn, Berlin and Strasbourg in Germany, began his diplomatic career in 1976 when he was posted to the consulate general of the Federal Republic of Germany in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
In 1980, Weishaupt earned his doctorate degree in international law in Hamburg.
A year later, he was named Germany’s consul to Moscow, Russia.
He was Germany’s consul to Warsaw, Poland from 1982 to 1985.
His other overseas postings include ones in Khartoum, Sudan; Karachi, Pakistan; East Berlin; Alma Ata in Kazakhstan; West Afghanistan; Saratow in Russia; Mogadishu, Somalia; and Manila, the Philippines.