Message of Greeting from Federal Minister Westerwelle
on the occasion of Eid ul-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan 1431 H./2010, on 9 September 2010
I wish all our Muslim fellow citizens in Germany, and indeed all our Muslim friends and their families across the world, a happy Eid ul-Fitr! Today our thoughts are also with those who in these past weeks and months have been struck by disasters and who are unable to celebrate at home with their families. I pay tribute to all those committed to fostering mutual respect and understanding among religions and cultures. You are building a world in which everyone treats each other with respect and trust and act as important bridges between our cultures. We want to continue to nurture and expand our partnership. Happy holidays to you all! Guido Westerwelle Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs
In the light of the immense damages caused by the floods in Pakistan the Federal Republic of Germany has decided to further increase its help to people affected by this natural disaster up to the amount of 25 million Euro, bringing total German immediate relief aid to 2.75 billion Rupees. Germany's help will be channelled through UN-Organizations and German humanitarian aid organizations to enable direct support of the people affected by the flooding.
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Ambassador Dr. Michael Koch welcomed on Wednesday afternoon, 25 August 2010, an aircraft bringing a water filtration plant from Germany to Pakistan. This modular unit is provided by the German Red Cross and has been funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The water filtration plant is designed to provide clean drinking water for up to 15,000 persons affected by the flood. The plant is worth 300,000 Euros (32 million PKR) and will be stationed in Kyhber-Pakhtunkhwa's Nowshera District. Talking to the press at the tarmac of Chaklala Air Base, Ambassador Koch stressed that Germany's humanitarian assistance is reaching the people in need. He said that it is particularly vital that people have access to clean drinking water.
Various projects funded by the German Government have already been implemented. The German Government has provided 25 million Euros (2.7 billion PKR) of humanitarian assistance to people in the flood-affected areas. This money is channelled through various organizations of the United Nations and through German non government organizations. Furthermore the German public has donated another 25 million EUR (2.7 billion PKR). The Ambassador underlined that this shows that both the German Government as well as the citizens of Germany stand side by side with the people of Pakistan in the hour of need.
CrossCulture Internships Programme
To bid farewell to young professionals and volunteers who are going to Germany as interns the German Embassy hosted a reception on Tuesday, 10 August 2010. This year six people have been selected from all over Pakistan to participate in the CrossCulture Internships Programme. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and organized by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen the CrossCulture Programme gives young people from countries of the Islamic world and Germany the chance to gain experience abroad within their fields of activity and to enable them to act as multipliers in their home countries. The young Pakistanis are placed in theatre projects, political organizations or TV stations all over Germany. The internships are complemented by a subject-specific framework programme such as accompanying events or individual visits and meetings. For more details about the internship program please visit:
This year, on 3 October, Germany will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of reunification and two moving decades of eastern and western Germany growing closer together. From the peaceful revolution that brought down the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 to German reunification on 3 October 1990, political events came thick and fast in the years 1989 and 1990, eventually leading to a historic turning point – in Germany, Europe and the world.
20 Years of German Unity
The red carpet is rolled out and ready for the film stars. At the Biennale di Venezia, the world’s oldest film festival, 24 films are competing for this year’s prestigious Golden Lion award, including three productions from Germany. The most prominent German representative in the competition at the 67th Venice international Film Festival (September 1 - 11) is director Tom Tykwer.
"Golden Lion"
European champion in economic growth rates: German industry is currently making a name for itself with top growth figures in Europe and is looking very healthy again following the international turbulence of the economic and financial crisis. In the second quarter the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) is expecting an increase in growth of 1.1 per cent against the previous quarter. “This is a leading rate in the euro area,” writes the monthly DIW Economic Barometer which was published in Berlin at the end of July 2010.
Upswing in the German Economy
Germany is a strong and reliable partner in the international efforts to help build an Afghanistan that will never again become a haven for terrorists. A responsible hand-over is the guiding principle of German policy in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan
Visit of Special Envoy to Pakistan
Ambassador Michael Steiner, the German government's new Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, paid his first visit to Pakistan from 12 to 14 July 2010 - meeting among others Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani (R).
Humanitarian Aid to the aggrieved persons of the Hunza disaster
The Federal Republic of Germany is providing 4.2 million Pakistani rupees for tents, blankets and hygiene kits as a relief to the internally displaced persons in the Hunza Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, especially to women and children. The measures will be implemented by FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance, an affiliate of the Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan (AKF – P).
A massive landslide disaster in Attaabad, Hunza, on 4 January 2010 left 19 people dead, besides internally displacing over 170 households from four villages. The other major impact of this landslide was the complete blockage of the Hunza River, which has lead to the formation of a huge lake . As a consequence, a growing number of houses have been flooded and thousands of people had to be evacuated from downstream areas as a precautionary measure. The lake has submerged and damaged substantial parts of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), thus cutting off road access and communication links with the upper Hunza Valley and China.
Aid for IDPs in Pakistan
Federal Foreign Office increases support for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan.
Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018
Candidate City phase: Munich bids to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018.
It was the decisive step on Germany's path towards unification: 20 years ago, on July 1, 1990, the agreement reached between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic on "Economic, Currency and Social Union" went into effect. The event had been preceded by the fall of The Wall on November 9, 1989 and then the first-ever free elections in the GDR on March 18, 1990.
German-German currency union 20 years ago
