THE First Minister met and talked about climate change with German chancellor Angela Merkel at the same COP26 reception where she chatted with US president Joe Biden.
Our exclusive picture shows the two women exchanging pleasantries at the event in Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow on Monday as they hold their face masks. Nicola Sturgeon also has a drink in her hand.
It is not known who took the remarkable photograph, which shows two of the most prominent female government heads in the world together for the first time.
They are the first women to hold their respective roles and both are among the political leaders who have been in power for the longest periods.
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Merkel has been chancellor in Berlin since November 2005, while Sturgeon has held the position as First Minister in Edinburgh since 2014. Both maintain high approval and popularity ratings among their countries’ voters, with Germans referring affectionately to their leader as “mutti” or “mummy”.
It may also be the only time the two leaders meet while Merkel is chancellor, as she is due to step down from the role.
On Sturgeon’s meeting with Merkel, the First Minister’s official spokesman said the two leaders discussed climate change.
He said: “She met with Angela Merkel. It was an opportunity for them to introduce themselves and to talk about the issues of the day, which was obviously COP.
“But beyond that I don’t have details and it’s in the nature of these things that it wasn’t the minuted meeting."
Despite coming from very different political traditions, with Sturgeon the leader of a centre-left party and Merkel from the centre-right CDU, the two women have some beliefs in common.
Notably both have been outspoken out to help refugees and been moved by their plight.
In July 2015, Merkel was put on the spot at a forum for young people by a Palestinian girl, Reem, in tears who had been threatened with deportation.
Months later, and against resistance from within her party, the chancellor opened Germany’s doors to more than one million refugees, mostly from war-battered Syria.
Sturgeon has spoken of wanting to allow more refugees to settle in Scotland, though her power over the matter is limited as the subject is reserved to Westminster. She was moved to tears in the Holyrood chamber by the death of the three year old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi in September 2015. Alan's body was pictured washed up on a beach after he and his family tried to cross the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe.
Both Merkel and Sturgeon are fierce opponents of Brexit and strongly in favour of the European Union.
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Yesterday it also emerged that the First Minister’s meeting with President Joe Biden lasted “around 10 minutes”, according to her official spokesman.
Sturgeon was pictured shaking hands with the Democratic president at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery on Monday evening.
The photograph was posted on Wednesday night on the First Minister’s official Twitter account.
Pictures also showed a gift of a large coloured glass bowl Sturgeon received on behalf of the people of Scotland from Biden.
At a press briefing yesterday, The National asked the First Minister’s official spokesman for more details of her conversation with the US president.
“It was a very brief meeting between the First Minister and President Biden,” he said.
“It was the first time they had met and it was an opportunity to exchange pleasantries. The First Minister welcomed him to Scotland. It was a very brief meeting. There wasn’t time for a substantive discussion.”
Asked by The National if it lasted about 10 minutes or so, he added: “Yes, about that. It was [at] the Kelvingrove reception for leaders that was hosted by the Prince of Wales.
“It is the nature of these receptions that people are mixing and mingling and you end up chatting to lots of different people.”
During the COP26 summit, the First Minister was also pictured chatting to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Yesterday she was pictured with former US Democratic vice-president Al Gore, who is a prominent figure on the environment.
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