Report by the magazine “Business & Diplomacy” on foreign trade
(from left) Ambassador Dr Wolfgang Manig, Thomas Schirrmacher, Urs Unkauf, Michael Schumann, Parvis Yazdani © BQ
The German-Azerbaijani Forum (DAF) hosted a spring reception at the QGallery in Berlin. The event began with opening remarks by DAF Chairman Urs Unkauf, who highlighted the Forum’s importance as a platform for dialogue between Germany and Azerbaijan. In his address, he emphasised the goal of further intensifying the Forum’s activities and raising awareness in Germany of specific projects and initiatives from Azerbaijan. Michael Schumann, Chairman of the DAF Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Executive Board of the Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade (BWA), emphasised in his welcoming remarks the growing economic and geopolitical significance of the South Caucasus as well as the Forum’s role as a bridge of understanding between the two countries.
The President of Azerbaijan and Thomas Schirrmacher, with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch in the background (2019) © IIRF/Esther Schirrmacher
Former Ambassador Dr Wolfgang Manig, who served as German Ambassador to Baku from 2019 to 2022 and is a member of the Forum’s Board of Trustees, provided substantive input. In his remarks, he addressed the significance of the Nowruz festival, which symbolises harmony and new beginnings, and the prospects for German-Azerbaijani relations.
Archbishop Prof Dr Dr Thomas Schirrmacher, former General Secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance and a member of the Board of Trustees of the German-Azerbaijani Forum, offered a special gesture of solidarity. He highlighted the importance of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, as well as Azerbaijan’s vital role in fostering mutual understanding and cooperation.
Addition by Bonn Profiles
Schirrmacher took part in numerous global interfaith dialogue conferences organised by Azerbaijan, particularly in Baku. He helped organise a similar conference in 2018 at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin and assisted in preparing Pope Francis’s ecumenical meetings in Baku in 2017, where he accompanied the Pope. (https://islam.de/30524.php)
Pope Francis and Thomas Schirrmacher in Baku (2017) © ISHR/Martin Warnecke
To this end, he worked closely on several occasions with Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, who is President of the Supreme Religious Council of the Peoples of the Caucasus, which represents Sunni and Shia Muslims from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Dagestan and other North Caucasus regions, for example in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade and Thomas Schirrmacher in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2022) © IIRF/Thomas Schirrmacher
Schirrmacher also recently took part in a panel discussion in Jerusalem on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the European Rabbinical Conference with the Executive Director of the Baku International Centre for Multiculturalism, Dr Ravan Hasanov. (https://bonner-querschnitte.de/?p=12195)
Thomas Schirrmacher is addressed by the President of the CER, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt (left); also pictured (from left to right) are the Minister for Multiculturalism from Azerbaijan, the Israeli Minister of Culture and Gady Groning, CEO of the CER © ISHR/Martin Warnecke