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Engaging with the public on foreign policy – Foreign Minister Baerbock starts her summer tour through Germany
Foreign Minister Baerbock visits a training centre for skilled trade in Bochum, © Photothek Media Lab
From 25 to 31 July, Foreign Minister Baerbock will be travelling to Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia. Read on to learn more about the tour.
As she sets out on her third summer tour through Germany, Foreign Minister Baerbock is embarking on what has more or less become a tradition: Already for the third time, she will be travelling though Germany and meeting with citizens, companies, organisations and associations. Her intention is to listen in on their concerns, needs and interests. By engaging in discussions, she also intends to make some things clear: How do we arrive at the assessments that underlie our foreign policy decisions, and why do foreign policy issues play a key role in making our country fit for the future? Ultimately, foreign policy is made for people. Its effects are not only felt outside of Germany, but also directly influence the situation and everyday life of people here, as well.
Before beginning her tour of Germany, Foreign Minister Baerbock said:
Over the coming days, I want to talk to people in different parts of Germany about their worries and fears, as well as their visions, their ideas for how we can tackle things and face up to the challenges of this time together. Because it is people who together make our country strong.
Foreign Minister Baerbock’s first stop on her tour will be Flensburg. There, she will visit Flensburger Fahrzeugbau, a company that plays a central role in European support for Ukraine. As a city on a firth that is adjacent to the border with our northern neighbour Denmark, this German city is uniquely poised to illustrate what European cooperation and living together in Europe means. Next on Foreign Minister Baerbock’s itinerary will therefore be a visit to the city's Danish Central Library, where she will be speaking with student ambassadors from the German, Danish and Frisian communities.
The second stop on her tour will be Hamburg. The Hanseatic city hosts an important building block in the international peace and security order: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. At the Tribunal, the Foreign Minister will learn more about its important work, which focuses on key issues like maritime borders, climate action and fisheries disputes. Next, she will visit Hamburg’s harbour, which is a key hub for the German business sector and its international networks. A citizens' forum will conclude the first part of this year’s summer tour through Germany.
A central focus of the second half of this year’s tour will be the shortage of skilled workers. This topic directly illustrates the impact of foreign policy on people’s everyday lives in Germany. When a company in Bochum, after years of unsuccessfully searching for trainees in Germany, is able to fill its traineeship opening because it decided to also search abroad and found an ideal candidate in Ghana, or when a company in Thuringia is relieved that it can finally fill open positions with new colleagues from Viet Nam or Uzbekistan, then it becomes clear that we need modern visa procedures. During her stops at the Ruhr District Crafts and Trades Association and a medium-sized company in Thuringia, Foreign Minister Baerbock is hoping to learn about what role the immigration of skilled workers can play in fighting Germany’s shortage of skilled workers, and how we can further improve our position in global competition for attracting the brightest minds.
The second part of the tour will showcase innovation and success “Made in Germany”: In Leverkusen, Foreign Minister Baerbock will visit athletes who are preparing for the Paralympic Games and learn about the impressive way that outstanding sports talent, expert tradespeople and innovative prostheses technology are together promoting excellence. Afterwards, she will meet with ESA astronauts and gain impressive insight into the training and research of these scientists. At Carl Zeiss in Jena, the Foreign Minister will speak with the company’s workers and managers about topics that include diversification, the role played by China and the importance of innovation for medicine and climate action.
During the second part of her summer tour through Germany, the Foreign Minister will again be participating in a citizens' forum – this time, in the city of Essen.
In the margins of and between her scheduled events, the Minister will find numerous opportunities for brief impromptu exchanges, whereby she hopes to gather opinions from, and also hear the critical views of, those whom foreign policy serves – the people in Germany.