Czech republic

Hamburg's connection to the Czech Republic

Close economic ties have existed between Hamburg and Prague since Hanseatic times. Goods were shipped to Hamburg via the Vltava and Elbe rivers. The historical trade route formed the basis for later connections. Today, the Port of Hamburg is the Czech Republic's maritime gateway to world markets: Hamburg, as the most important port for the country, has a high share of intermodal container shipments from the Czech Republic, with numerous container train connections per week to Czech logistics hubs. METRANS, a subsidiary of HHLA, plays a central role here.

The Czech Republic is traditionally one of Hamburg's most important foreign trade partners in the Central and Eastern European region. The Hanseatic tradition gave rise to an intensive, multifaceted city partnership in 1990: regular delegation visits, university/museum cooperation, joint research priorities and Erasmus programmes, exchange in areas such as AI, culture, sport, civil society and as part of the "Hamburg-Prague Education Agreement"... Concrete projects make the partnership stable and tangible.

HamburgAmbassador Ursula Schulz

After completing a commercial apprenticeship, Ursula Schulz studied English, German, Education and Art History at Kiel University and Sustainable Development at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. Alongside her teaching career, she managed Comenius projects in Hamburg and Erasmus+ programmes since 2014. From 2005 to 2012, she was sent to Prague as a state programme teacher and was appointed Hamburg Ambassador in 2008.

Ursula Schulz was actively involved in developing the "Hamburg-Prague Education Agreement" and led the working group on bilingual German-Czech literacy on behalf of the Czech Ministry of Education. She is closely networked with the Prague City Council, ministries, chambers, public and private institutions and stakeholders and works together with the representative office of Hafen-HH Marketing Prague. Ursula Schulz is a civil servant at BSFB and lives in both Hamburg and Prague.

Expertise for Hamburg

Three people in formal dress smiling at an event with several guests in the background. — HamburgAmbassadorin Ursula Schulz beim Empfang zum Tag der Deutschen Einheit in Prag 2025 mit Staatspräsident Petr Pavel und Zuzana Hocková, Head of International Relations, City of Prague.

Ursula Schulz actively lives the city partnership between Hamburg and Prague through ongoing personal commitment, exchange and encounters. Her work focuses on the education, science and culture sectors, among others. For 20 years, she has been organising and running training courses for educational staff in the respective partner city, organising exchanges for school classes, company and social internships, job shadowing and delegation trips. She is available as a contact person for new ideas and topics and initiates further projects. She maintains continuous contact with partners in the other city and organises, coordinates and supervises a wide range of programmes and projects.

Her personal and reliable networks help with the cooperation. For Ursula Schulz, active city twinning means: listening, participating, connecting, shaping - and taking part in relations between Hamburg and Prague.