Federal Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will open a conference entitled “People on the Move – Cultural Relations Policy in the Era of Globalization” on Thursday (23 April) with a keynote address on cultural relations and education policy.

Following his speech, some 1000 participants from the world of politics, culture and business will take part in six panel discussions on current issues relating to cultural policy and how Germany presents itself to the outside world. At 4.00 p.m. there will be a final panel discussion on “My Space Deutschland – Germany in the 21st century”.

“People on the Move” – this was the title of a major cultural conference with more than 500 participants which was held in the Federal Foreign Office in October 2006. Since then, Federal Minister Steinmeier has, among other things, initiated the reform of the Goethe-Institut and launched the “Schools: Partners for the Future” initiative, which managed to bring on board more than 500 new partner schools worldwide in 2008. In 2009 the Federal Foreign Office aims to strengthen links between the German and international research communities on a long-term basis through the Research and Academic Relations Initiative.

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