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In September 1998 ( in Stuttgart ) and January 1999 ( in Hanover ) the key organizations and foundations involved in transatlantic cultural, scientific and media work met at a "Round Table USA" on the invitation of the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations ( ifa ) and discussed ways in which to improve the harmonization of their activities and possible areas of synergy.
One of the outcomes of these discussions was the joint decision to stage a German-American Conference every two years on a regular basis. The aim of these meetings is to bring together young people some of whom are anticipated to be (co) responsible for transatlantic relations in key positions in 10 to 15 years time.
The conferences are intended to be of a "workshop for the future" nature and, in work groups set up for specific subjects, to examine whether these subjects will be of crucial importance for future German-American cooperation.
In 2003 this conference with focus on common global responsibility brought together alumni of 16 transatlantic exchange programs. It offered a fresh look at the challenges which the ongoing process of globalization imposes on various areas of life such as
- Security Issues (hosted by the Insitute for Foreign Cultural Relations)
- Energy and Environment (hosted by the Robert Bosch Foundation)
- Politics and Media (hosted by the Goethe Institute)
- Migration, Integration, Intercultural Communication (hosted by the German-American Fulbright Commission)
This was the third time in the history of German cultural policy that so many cultural and exchange organizations and foundations met for a joint "show of achievement" to set out to the American public how broad the basis of the transatlantic cooperation on the German side has been in the past and will continue to be in the future.
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