Local officials got a visit from a high-ranking German official last week, who felt “right at home” in North Georgia.

Lutz Hermann Gorgens, consul general of the Federal Republic of Germay, spoke last week at city hall.

Gorgens visited several counties in the district Sept. 28 with Sen. Chip Pearson, who works with him on the state Economic Development Committee.

Despite the physical distance between both countries, Gorgens said the geographic similarities were “astounding.”

“I come here, and I feel like I am in my own country,” Gorgens said. “Germany is very similar in its mountains, hills and trees.”

He later fielded questions from local politicians about transportation and Dawson County’s future land use plan.

Pearson said economic development “comes about through relationships. It is literally all about relationships.”

Pearson said he paid for the consul’s visit during a silent auction last year. “I bid for a day with the consul general, and you are the beneficiaries of that,” he told officials.