News from Berlin - This Monday (16.06) Germany’s foreign minister Steinmeier travelled to Den Haag to meet his Dutch counterpart Mr. Timmermans. The two will attend the opening ceremony of the 13th German-Dutch forum, after discussing the situation in Ukraine. Students from both countries will have the opportunity to have a debate with the two officials, which will be focused on Europe after the European Parliament Elections and the challenges of digitalisation in Germany and the Netherlands.

In addition to the students’ debate, German and Dutch IT and software experts will hold various speeches on questions like how the trade of online data by companies such as eBay or Facebook should be regulated; or to what extent it is acceptable for governments to use online data from citizens to achieve their goals.

The German-Dutch Forum (DNF) was initiated by the then foreign ministers Kinkel and Kooijmans to strengthen the German-Dutch relationship. The forum takes place every one and a half to two years in Germany or the Netherlands. It always tries to encompass young speakers and students, to give them a chance to get involved in diplomacy and to learn about their German or Dutch counterpart, in order to achieve good relations with their neighbours from a young age.

News from Berlin – Berlin Global