Representatives of German minorities meet in Berlin for their 33rd annual conference

The 33rd annual conference of the FUEN Working Group of German Minorities (AGDM) will take place in Berlin from 13 to 16 October 2024. Chaired by AGDM spokesperson and FUEN Vice-President Bernard Gaida, the conference will bring together more than 40 representatives of German minorities from 17 European and Central Asian countries to discuss current issues and challenges and develop perspectives for the future.

The conference will be officially opened on 14 October by Natalie Pawlik, Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities. The programme also includes various political and expert discussions as well as networking meetings with high-ranking German politicians, including the Federal Minister of the Interior and Community, Nancy Faeser, members of the German Bundestag and representatives of the German Federal Foreign Office.

A particular focus of this year's conference will be intensive discussions on long-term financial and structural support for German minorities abroad. In addition, the German minorities will meet with the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group on expellees, ethnic German resettlers and German minorities as well as the parliamentary group on minorities in the German Bundestag.

The meeting will be rounded off by internal AGDM consultations and networking events, where participants can exchange ideas with each other and with various partner organisations and further intensify cooperation. The conference thus offers a valuable opportunity to jointly develop strategies for a sustainable future for German minorities.

Parallel to the AGDM main conference, the 3rd AGDM Youth Conference will also be held in Berlin on 16 and 17 October. Young representatives of the German minorities will have the opportunity to take part in expert discussions in the German Bundestag and in networking meetings with various partner organisations. One of the highlights of the youth conference will be the election of a new youth coordinator, accompanied by discussions on the future direction of youth work for German minorities in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The aim is to further strengthen cooperation between the youth organisations of the German minorities and to provide impetus for joint projects.

Representatives of the German minorities from Romania, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Moldova and Hungary are taking part in this year's AGDM annual conference.

You can follow the proceedings of the conference on the AGDM's social media channels (Facebook, Instagram).