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The Week in Germany: Politics

October 27, 2006

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier Highlights Importance of International Culture Programs

At a conference of Germany’s international cultural organizations, Frank-Walter Steinmeier underscored the importance of the arts and education as tools for promoting peace and understanding in the world, and pledged to fight for more funds for their programs. Over 500 representatives of Germany’s international cultural organizations, including the Goethe Institute, ifa, DAAD, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the German Archaeological Institute gathered in Berlin for the conference.

“For my part, I will fight to turn around the sinking trend in funding for international cultural and education programs, just as I did yesterday before the parliamentary budget commission […]” said Steinmeier, reaffirming international cultural programs as a pillar of German foreign policy.

Steinmeier highlighted programs such as the Ernst Reuter Initiative to promote dialogue with Turkey as examples of cultural programs that will promote peace and understanding between nations. After co-authoring an editorial in major German and Turkish newspapers addressing the Mohammed caricature controversy, Steinmeier and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gül founded the initiative to promote youth and academic exchange between their countries.

Germany’s top diplomat made a plea for a dynamic view of culture as an exchange that thrives on the differences between people, rather than a national canon of great works. “In [the Ernst Reuter Initiative], the state does not approach culture and civil society with gestures of authority. Instead, it organizes and moderates a process by which people from various social areas can come together,” said Steinmeier.

Steinmeier also emphasized the importance of international education programs in promoting economic growth. He underscored Germany’s success in attracting the best minds to German academic institutions, noting that the number of foreign students in Germany had increased by 50 percent since the year 2000 to 250,000, establishing Germany as the third most popular destination for students after the U.S.A and the UK.

Links:

Goethe Institute

DAAD

Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung

ifa Institute for Foreign Relations

Ernst Reuter Initiative

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